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I can't recall where I got this from, so hopefully I'm not too far of the mark, but whilst doing some stuff on population booms in the 18th century, I came across some statistics for then and now which suggested that more boys are born than girls, but that girls are more robust. In other words, if the cultural factors that lead to high female infant mortality (such as valuing a female child less and therefore feeding her less, being less concerned generally, getting medical help later, and outright infanticide) were removed, female babies had a higher chance of survival past 1st birthday than male babies. This was why, even though female children in the 18th century (for example) were regarded less and were subject to the specific factors just mentioned, they still represented a small majority (51% I think) of surviving children.
Apparently though, later births are more likely to be female, so those figures are changing in countries where women are leaving it until later in life to have babies.
[eta] just looked at your map Monster: am wondering if there's any correlation with age of the mother at first birth. Western countries, for example, often leave childbirth until much later in life.
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