City presses its case for 2nd child

A local government in Hubei province is calling upon members of the Communist Party of China and the Communist Youth League in government institutions to have two children, saying that failure to do so will have harmful effects.

According to a report by Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Yichang in August, the average number of children for women of childbearing age in Yichang stood at 0.72, the thepaper.cn reported.

Only about 36 percent of women in the city plan to have two children. The low willingness is the result of economic pressures seen in higher education and the cost of future marriages, the report found.