Beijing:
About 34 million Chinese males would have to look outside China to find brides as male population continue to heavily outnumber the women population in the world's most populous country.
China had 697.2 million males and 663.4 million females in 2013, which meant that there were 33.8 million more men than women, head of China's National Bureau of Statistic, (NBS) Ma Jiantang, today said.
The total population of China barring Hong Kong and Macau was 1.36 billion in 2013, he said.
The skewed sex ratio was attributed to sex-selective abortion and preference for a male child, also seen elsewhere in Asia where people believe male heirs can ensure their families' bloodline is preserved.
The Chinese government has been cracking down hard on sex determination tests to "eliminate discrimination against girls" and continue promoting gender equity.
The sex-selective abortions thrived in many parts of the country for the past three decades after the government vigorously implemented the one child policy.
Chinese men opted to marry Vietnamese brides in the wake of paucity of women and increasing gender gap.