Fewer applications in China than expected to have second child

China’s family planning policy, known as the one-child policy, has been controversial in the 3½ decades since it was introduced, with many young Chinese deploring the restrictions placed on their desire to have a big family.

Slowing growth in population has fuelled fears of a demographic time bomb in China, the world’s most populous nation with 1.34 billion people, and the working population is slowly beginning to shrink, threatening economic growth.

Under an easing of the rules, piloted in eastern China in 2014 and spread nationwide since then, couples may now have a second child if either parent is an only child.

However, far fewer people than expected have signed up to have a second child, causing concern.

Second child

Mao Qunan, a spokesman for the National Health and Family Planning Commission, told a press conference this week that nearly one million couples applied last year to have a second child. The commission expects that the number will increase next year.

The number of applicants was particularly low in the cities – in Beijing, about 30,000 couples have submitted applications, while other cities, such as Shanghai and Shenzhen, saw similar low rates.

Chen Youhua, a demographer from Nanjing University, said the commission had confused the numbers of those applying with the real birth rate. He said five million couples would need to apply for permission to have a second child to realise two million births.

"If there are only one million who applied for the second child, then there won't be more than half a million second children born, which is only a quarter of what was expected," Mr Chen told China Business News.