143 million women and girls are now “missing” from the world population, according to the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA.  That’s 3.7% of the world’s female population – gone.   The number was just revised upward from 126 million.  See the UNFPA State of World Population report, pages 45 -52.

The greatest loss results from parents’ strong preference for sons over daughters and the resulting practice of sex-selective abortion to ensure a male child.  Excess female mortality after birth also contributes, particularly among older women and girls aged 0 – 4.  Significantly higher child mortality for girls (relative to boys) points to gross neglect, mistreatment, and killing of unwanted girls.

This number is a metric for women’s well-being (or lack of it) in our world.  It shows that women’s oppression, whose consequences may seem nebulous, actually results in a very quantifiable and measurable loss of female life.