Discrimination against women is so widespread in the world that, spontaneously or under pressure, millions of women decide not to give birth to daughters who are considered a burden for their families and unable to perpetuate the family lineage. Sex selection is a huge problem in some Asian countries, in which the selective abortion of females, together with the killing of female newborns, has been practised for decades. Prenatal sex selection is indicated by a departure from the natural average sex ratio of 105 boys:100 girls and increases as the number of children goes up in a family or when there are legal or economic restrictions on the size of families. There is strong evidence that prenatal sex selection is not limited to Asia. In recent years a departure from the natural sex ratio at birth has been observed in a number of Council of Europe member states and the ratio has reached worrying proportions in Albania, Armenia and Azerbaijan, in which boys outnumber girls by 112 to 100 and in Georgia in which the sex ratio at birth is 111 boys:100 girls.