Most couples want two children, top health official says

Source:chinadaily.com.cn

WANG XIAODONG

Updated: 2015-11-10

A birth approval certificate for a second child is shown by a pregnant woman in Quzhou, Zhejiang province, in April last year.[XU YUANCHANG/CHINA DAILY]

Most couples in China want to have two children once the national policy allowing a second child is implemented next year, China's top health authority said Tuesday.

Surveys show that married couples between the ages of 20 and 44 want to have an average of 1.93 children, Wang Pei'an, a deputy minister at the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said at a news conference today.

Currently, the number of women with one child who are of child bearing age is about 140 million, Wang said. More than 45 million of those are between 40 and 49.

China's top leadership decided last month to further relax the family planning policy by allowing all couples to have two children. In most urban areas in China, only couples in which at least one spouse is a single child are currently allowed to have two children.

Wang said the policy needs to be approved by China's top legislature next year before it becomes law. It is expected to bring a surge in new births over the next few years, though it will not significantly increase China's population in the long run, he said.

Only 10% apply for second baby

Tradition of large families has changed in big cities with economy and govt policy, expert says

Most couples don't want to expand their families, if the low number applying for a second child in Beijing under today's rules is an indicator of parental thinking.

Even if a couple is eligible, under the current policy, for a second offspring because one parent is an only child, only about 10 percent seek more children, according to data released on Friday by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning.

By the end of October, 55,851 qualified couples applied to health authorities in Beijing to have a second child since the city adopted the policy in February last year, the commission said.

That is roughly one-tenth of the estimated 550,000 couples who are eligible under that standard, set in 2013. [Full story]