Most births this year added a child beyond first one

More than half of the births in China during the first five months of the year involved a second child - or even additional ones - more than a year after the universal second-child policy was introduced in January 2016, according to China's top health authority.

The number of births at Chinese hospitals between January and May was 7.4 million, an increase of 7.8 percent over the same period last year, Wang Peian, vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said at an annual meeting of the China Population Association held in Kunming, Yunnan province, last week.

Of all births in the first five months, 57.7 percent were at least the second child of their parents, an increase of 8.5 percentage points over the same period last year, he said.