Table 3

Birth Interval Length Following Daughters by Sex of Next Child in China

YearParitySex CombinationFraction MaleBirth Interval Before MaleBirth Interval Before FemaleDifference (M-F)
19902ndOne girl0.55
(0.001)		2.91
(0.004)		2.85
(0.004)		0.055***
(0.005)
3rdTwo girls0.62
(0.002)		2.80
(0.006)		2.66
(0.007)		0.134***
(0.008)
4thThree girls0.64
(0.003)		2.77
(0.013)		2.58
(0.016)		0.196***
(0.014)
20002ndOne girl0.62
(0.003)		3.59
(0.016)		3.46
(0.021)		0.133***
(0.009)
3rdTwo girls0.70
(0.006)		2.64
(0.025)		2.33
(0.034)		0.305***
(0.057)
4thThree girls0.72
(0.015)		2.72
(0.061)		2.26
(0.084)		0.459***
(0.057)

  • * significant at 10%

  • ** significant at 5%.

  • ↵*** significant at 1%.

  • Source: See Table 1.

  • Notes: Data on a child’s month of birth are used for this calculation. The first column represents the fraction of male births following each sex combination. The second and third columns represent the average birth interval separated by whether the next birth is a boy or girl. The fourth column is the observed delay before male births relative to female births.