People-first policy for healthy growth

Editor's Note: Some experts recently proposed that "maternity funds" be established with the contributions from childless and single-child couples to help those families that have two or more children. Their argument is that the measure will encourage (if not force) all childbearing age couples to have two children and help ease the aging problem. But their proposal has sparked a heated debate online on how to sensibly encourage couples to have two children and cope with the aging population. Three experts share their views on the issue with China Daily's Liu Jianna. Excerpts follow:

Welfare policies can ease couples' burden

The cost of raising a child in China that includes "labor", education and medical costs, which has increased manifold thanks to economic and social development, has prompted most couples to have just one child. The previous one-child policy, which was scrapped in January 2016, has also played a role in limiting couples' desire to have more than one child.