1.45m couples seeking to have a 2nd child
Print Edition
ABOUT 1.45 million Chinese couples, or 13 percent of those eligible, submitted applications for a second child as of the end of May, an official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission said yesterday.
The number of couples opting for a second child has seen “steady growth” since a major policy change at the end of 2013, when couples were permitted to have a second child if either parent is an only child, said Yang Wenzhuang, a commission official.
Each month, an average of 80,000 to 90,000 couples submitted applications for a second child, with the peak reaching 150,000 a month in July and August last year, he said.
The number of couples who qualify is about 11 million, with nearly 70 percent of them born after 1980, he said.
China’s newborn population grew to 16.87 million in 2014, an increase from 15.92 million in 2010, Yang said, with the number of babies born last year up 470,000 over 2013.
Yang said the increase was prompted by a larger population of women of primary child-bearing age, as well as the policy relaxation.
China’s total population was 1.368 billion at the end of last year, he said.
Although the policy adjustment did not lead to the baby boom that many expected, experts said its effect will be seen in four or five years, as time is needed for full implementation of the two-child policy and authorities need time to assess the results of the change before making further adjustments.
Meanwhile, China’s migrant population is expected to number 310 million by 2030, almost the same size as the population of the United States, according to statistics cited by Health News yesterday.
Wang Pei’an, the family planning commission’s deputy director, was quoted as saying that by 2030 about 230 million Chinese will move out of the countryside to live in cities.
He was speaking at a forum on urbanization held by the commission and Shanghai’s Fudan University. He said migration of the labor force remained an important pillar to sustain economic growth.
He said growing migration would create challenges, including children living far from their parents and poorly educated young workers facing unemployment in cities. The government had to improve public services and social governance to help ease the problems, he said.
In 2014, China’s migrant population was 254 million, Wang said.
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