A question of balance as population ages
By Christine Cai |
December 12, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SHANGHAI has too few children in relation to the number of elderly people, family planning officials said yesterday.
"About a quarter of the local registered population is elderly while children under 14 are just 8.6 percent of the registered population," Huang Hong, director of the city's Population and Family Planning Commission, said. "It is bad for sustainable development if children's coverage is lower than 20 percent of the population."
She said Shanghai had reported the problem to the central government but so far there had been no indication of any change to China's one-child policy.
A recent survey of young couples in Shanghai found that many who were eligible to have a second child said they wouldn't because of their careers or the expense involved.
Couples can have a second child under certain conditions - for example, where both are from a one-child family or the first child has a non-inherited disease.
This year, only 8.6 percent of couples with Shanghai residency where both spouses are from one-child families have given birth to a second child.
"About a quarter of the local registered population is elderly while children under 14 are just 8.6 percent of the registered population," Huang Hong, director of the city's Population and Family Planning Commission, said. "It is bad for sustainable development if children's coverage is lower than 20 percent of the population."
She said Shanghai had reported the problem to the central government but so far there had been no indication of any change to China's one-child policy.
A recent survey of young couples in Shanghai found that many who were eligible to have a second child said they wouldn't because of their careers or the expense involved.
Couples can have a second child under certain conditions - for example, where both are from a one-child family or the first child has a non-inherited disease.
This year, only 8.6 percent of couples with Shanghai residency where both spouses are from one-child families have given birth to a second child.
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