One-child policy shift stirs health care focus
Print Edition
Local governments are considering measures to alleviate pressure on maternity and pediatric health care facilities arising from changes to the one-child policy.
Yang Wenzhuang, director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission’s family planning instruction department, said yesterday local governments had conducted surveys and risk assessments on the policy change announced last month. The change allows couples to have a second child if one spouse is an only child.
It is a significant change to the one-child policy, which was introduced more than 30 years ago to rein in population growth. Some estimates credit the policy with preventing 400 million people from being added to China’s population, which now stands at 1.34 billion.
There is no nationwide timetable for the new policy, Yang said, as different regions will implement it based on local conditions.
The policy change “meets public expectations” and “promotes happiness” as it allows more families to have two children, he said. It will also increase family development and the ability to care for the elderly, Yang added.
The number of couples eligible for a second child is “not very large,” Yang said.
There will be an annual increase of about 2 million newborns, similar to the increase in new births around the year 2000, which “will not cause big pressure on health care, education and other public resources.”
Demographer Zhai Zhenwu said the new policy would result in an estimated 15 million to 20 million couples eligible for a second child. Up to 60 percent of these couples were willing to have a second child, according to a poll by the family planning commission.
There will also be annual population planning to prevent large fluctuations, Yang said.
He warned eligible couples would be fined if they had a second child before local congresses approved the revisions.
The policy change would lay the foundations for further birth adjustments in the future, Yang added.
The reform was a response to the country’s aging population, he added.
According to analysts, the country has the largest senior population in the world, with 194 million people aged 60 or more as of the end of last year.
However, demographers are not anticipating a huge rise in the number of babies at a time since many young couples prefer smaller families.
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