China is already set to see a significant baby boom as it relaxes its one child policy, states contributing Euromonitor analyst Rob Walker, but the resulting boom is also likely to see a significant correction in the number of females.
Culture and tradition has determined that a son is very important to Chinese families, so with the introduction of family planning laws in the 1980s male children have become even more cherished, sometimes even been planned.
More room for girls now!
Although there is officially no such option as selective-sex abortion in China, many couples have found various ways of determining the sex and then gone through with an illegal abortion when the results were not what they expected.
According to Euromonitor, there are currently 119 million boys aged 0 – 14, compared with 96 million girls, giving it one of the highest sex ratio imbalances in the world.
However, the relaxation of the family planning laws is now allowing couples in urban areas to have two children, which means that the country’s current gender gap could start to close up and even stabilize, prompting increased demand for cosmetics and personal care products aimed at females.
Demand for female-dedicated cosmetics set to rise
In the shorter-term, that demand is likely to manifest itself for baby and children dedicated products, but in the longer term that demand is likely to spark more demand for make-up, as well as hair care, skin care and fragrance products developed and marketed for women.
Walker believes this could translate into billions of dollars in new business in the creation of new niches as the female population grows.
Ultimately this extra spurt of growth is also likely to help China to become the biggest market for beauty and personal care. Initial forecasts had estimated that this would happen by 2018, but Walker says that with this extra momentum that could happen by 2015.