Read more, procreate less

SHANGHAI - The number of children of illiterate women at childbearing age in this city is five times higher than that of women with master's degrees, according to a recent survey by Shanghai statistics bureau.

Based on the data collected as part of the sixth national census conducted in 2010, the survey found that a woman with a higher educational background was more likely to have less children. In 2010, a woman of childbearing age (defined as those between 15 to 50 years old) in Shanghai had 0.8 children on an average.

Women with master's degrees had an average of 0.36 children, as against the 1.8 averaged by women who never went to school.