Beijing, China (LifeNews.com) -- One of the most significant problems resulting from the coercive one-child population control policy in China has been the disparity between the number of girl and boy babies born.

Because couples can only have one child, and pressured by cultural norms that favor boys over girls, girl babies are often victims of abortion or infanticide.

A new Chinese program that will pay couples to have girl babies hopes to change that.

Under the new policy, thousands of poor rural families who are more likely to end the lives of girl babies, will be paid $200 per year if they only have girls. The goal is to change the traditional preference for boys by raising the value of daughters.

The Chinese government is promoting the new campaign with billboards and banners.

There are approximately 7 million abortions annually in China and the International Planned Parenthood Federation indicates that more than 70 percent are female unborn children.

The female babies are often aborted in the late stages of pregnancy when an ultrasound reveals their gender. The Chinese government has tried to crack down on the non-medial usage of ultrasound.

The gender imbalance has grown since the Asian country introduced the population control policies after a post World War II baby boom.

According to the 2000 census, there were about 117 males to 100 females in China and the latest government statistics show it at 119 to 100. For second births, occasionally allowed in rural areas, the national ratio was about 152 to 100.

China has drawn significant concerns worldwide because of the forced abortions, sterilizations and human rights abuses that population control officials use to enforce the one-child policy.

Some Chinese demographers applaud the population control policy, however, and say it has resulted in preventing an additional 300 million people from being born in the world's most populated country.

Yet, the 2000 census revealed there were 20% more males than females below the age of five.

China had long discouraged any discussion of the "missing girls" problem until last March, when Communist Party leader Hu Jintao acknowledged the problem and said the sex ratio imbalance will cause social problems if it persists over time.

Chinese demographers have been given the task of correcting the imbalance by 2010, which some say may be impossible.