A two-child policy for all

Editor's Note: So far 29 municipalities, provinces and autonomous regions have introduced the policy of allowing couples, of whom one is an only child, to have two children, since the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress endorsed the policy in late 2013. Under the new policy about 11 million couples are eligible to have another child. But given China's increasing grey population, it is facing another dilemma: whether to further ease the family planning policy to fully implement a two-child policy.

At present, China implements different family planning policies toward different groups: At first only couples where both parties are an only child could give birth to a second child; now if either the husband or the wife is an only child they can have a second child. But the authorities say that there's no timetable to further ease the population policy to allow all couples to have two children. It's obviously policy discrimination that goes against social fairness.

If China implemented age-specific family planning reform to allow older women to have a second child first, and younger women later, it could possibly alleviate the phenomenon of fertility accumulation and be more acceptable to the public. Late childbirth is not good for both mothers and children. Even if the authorities adjust the population policy, some post-1970s women may not choose to give birth again.