Here’s the ratio of male to female births in England and Wales since 1838. Anyone have an explanation as to what is going on? I know Danny Dorling has views but I don’t find them convincing. But I also don’t have an explanation. Answers on a postcard please…
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I believe there's some evidence that the earlier a woman conceives in her cycle the more likely a boy is to be born (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/449885/). I'd imagine that when people are having sex more often e.g. post war or during an economic crash (the peak in the 70s) more women conceive early in the cycle and more boys are therefore born.
There's a phenomenon called the 'Returning Soldier effect' which has been observed for quite a while and seems to fit - though it seems the exact mechanism (genetic? hormonal? something else?) is still debated and unclear.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Returning_soldier_effect