Bachelor Bulge

Britain has too many men

World War I virtually wiped out a generation of British males. The slaughter in the trenches claimed three-quarters of a million young Englishmen and helped produce the "spinster bulge" of the '20s and '30s, when Britain had a surplus of nearly 2 million women, most of whom were never able to marry.

By the late '40s, males had made a strong comeback and once again outnumbered females. But now, according to a demographic report, Britain is on the brink of a serious "bachelor bulge." Tucked away in a few paragraphs of a 100-page government study is startling information: in the 20-to 24-year age group, British males now outnumber females by 1.3 million to 789,000. In the prime marriage years, 20 to 34, the ratio is even more lop sided: there are 800,000 extra males. For the rest of the century, women will hold the upper hand in the marriage mart. Says Government Demographer Eugene Grebenik: "Women will not have to be so worried about being 'left on the shelf because they will be in short supply."

Why the sudden shift? Nature produces 5% to 6% more boys than girls, apparently an evolutionary adjustment to the greater vulnerability of male babies to disease. Yet advances in medicine and hygiene now mean that more of these vulnerable young males are surviving. Also, in the past generation, Britain has not been involved in any major wars. Nor is there any longer a great empire to siphon off extra males. On the contrary, many males are coming in from the old colonies, even from underpopulated Australia, because opportunities are perceived to be greater in the mother country.

One major consequence of the bulge: despite the traditional male preference for younger spouses, men are turning increasingly to older women, who still sharply outnumber men above the age of 45. Significantly, since 1964, the number of males marrying women older than themselves has risen from 12% to 15%, and the trend is expected to continue. The crunch should come in the mid-1980s, when the men born at the tail end of Britain's postwar baby boom begin looking for brides in the smaller pool of women born during the 1960s. That prospect worries many population experts. They point out that a large surplus of males can bring increases in prostitution, homosexuality and serious crimes. In fact, most felonies are committed by young unmarried men.

Some Britons think their countrymen will somehow manage to muddle through, as always: men might simply marry later and become more reluctant to divorce. Indeed, the unflappable London Times says that the surplus may well be a healthy sign. It editorialized recently: "A society that rears relatively large numbers of these fragile males to maturity is by definition stable, peaceful and advanced in medical knowledge."

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