By Nicole Solis  August 31st, 2009 11:59 am  |  Comments (5)

I always assumed the male-to-female population ratio in most countries was roughly 1:1. But while digging around the CIA World Factbook, I stumbled across some surprising data on the gender breakdown of countries around the world.

Here are the countries at the extreme ends of the scale, looking at the overall population ratio (ratios are expressed as the number of males to one female).

More women than men

Northern Mariana Islands

• at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.1 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 0.67 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 1.08 male(s)/female
• total population: 0.74 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Ukraine

• at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.5 male(s)/female
• total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Latvia

• at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.49 male(s)/female
• total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Russia

• at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.44 male(s)/female
• total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

More men than women

United Arab Emirates

• at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 2.74 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 1.82 male(s)/female
• total population: 2.19 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Qatar

• at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 2.46 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 1.38 male(s)/female
• total population: 2 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Kuwait

• at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 1.78 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 1.66 male(s)/female
• total population: 1.54 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Maldives

• at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 1.62 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 1 male(s)/female
• total population: 1.44 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

For my dime-store analysis, I’d guess that the influx of male guest workers to Middle Eastern countries causes the imbalance in the 15-64 year age range. But I would assume that the guest workers would return to their countries of origin as they got older, balancing the ratio out in the 65 and over range.

No country, that I found, had fewer than 1 male per female at birth. Only Albania, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, and India have more than 1.1 males for each female at birth.

Source: CIA World Factbook.

Photo by Helga’s Lobster Stew. CC 2.0.