Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
OVER HALF THE babies born in China in the first eight months of 2017 were second children after the relaxation of the longstanding one-child rule.
The number of parents choosing to have a second child has surged since Beijing loosened strict caps on family size in January 2016 to try to rejuvenate the ageing labour force.
Some 52% of the 11.6 million babies born between January and August have an older sibling, said the state news agency Xinhua, citing Wang Peian, deputy head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
That compares to about 45% in 2016, when 18.5 million babies were born in hospital, the highest since 2000, according to the report.
Last year’s baby boom was thought to be partly due to the relaxation of the one-child policy, but also because 2016 was the lunar year of the monkey — considered a particularly auspicious zodiac sign to be born under.
Since the late 1970s the world’s most populous country had restricted most couples to only a single child, with violators facing fines and even forced abortions.
But concern about an ageing population and a shrinking workforce saw the country loosen the policy at the beginning of 2016.
While some parents had long been allowed more than one child, the change allowed every family a second.
Wang said China plans a range of new policies to support the second child agenda, including on tax, housing and employment.
The report said China had allocated some 2.9 billion yuan (€378 million) to build maternity and pediatric hospitals last year and plans to add 140,000 more obstetricians and midwives by 2020.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
In ireland a child is a meal tick to a free home.
@brian hardy: simply not true
@brian hardy: You must be referring to Migrants because their are Thousands of Irish Children Homeless
@Piarais Mac Maoláin: Ignore ‘brian’. It’s the same lad who has been banned dozens of times, and that’s having his many twitter accounts instantly flagged and restricted as soon as he sets them up.
@Piarais Mac Maoláin: ” i wonder who this one belongs to.”
It’s little mister ‘enjoy the border shinnerbot’ once again. He thought it would be a good idea to post menaces towards me on this site, now his twitter accounts are instantly flagged and restricted as soon as he sets one up.
@brian hardy: People who don’t have jobs should curtail their procreation or use protection.
@The Risen: nice to see more IRA filth convicted today, long may it continue :)
@Paul Byrne: I don’t think I got a Free House
12 million babies born in one country in a year & the pope is concerned about birth rates.
@Cindy Crawford: i.e. fallen birth rates in affluent western societies.
@Cindy Crawford: Born into the wrong religion for the pope.
@Garreth Byrne: Not everybody is affluent in western societies. I’d imagine the percentage is quite low.
@Gary: Well said.
Peope was talking about Europe, which has an aging population and why we need immigration to keep our social safety net intact, or more kids, but considering the cost of living the latter probably won’t be happening.
@Ryan Carroll: If European citizens can’t afford to have ‘more kids’, does this mean that we can rely on cheap immigrant labour instead ‘to keep our social net intact’?
@Cindy Crawford: What or who is a pope and what has it got to do with having children?
oh well, CO2/green house gas emissions will go through the roof so. no point in buying an electric car in this tiny country
Human nature has its way in the end. Next demographic trick: to even the ratio of 118 boys born for every 100 girls. This major demographic imbalance has been caused by cultural factors, by female infanticide & by gender abortions – foetal scanning was outlawed to curtail this. As Maurice Chevalier sang: Thank heaven for little girls.
@Garreth Byrne: wtf??
@Garreth Byrne: Yes! I love you for this. Apparently 117 million women are missing from the global population due to issues like sex-selective abortion, unequal distribution of food and medical care, dowry murders and honor killings. Very interesting.
378 million doesn’t seem like a lot for China. How much does it cost us to build a single children’s hospital?
@Daniel Wilson: National Children’s Hospital to cost €1 billion + a few hundred paper pushing civil servants reviewing all the myriad financial, engineering and planning processes entailed.
@Garreth Byrne: But no sprinklers for top two floors – too expensive.
@Austin Rock: Have the paper pushers been in touch with engineers and planners about this?
Let’s hope for the best
have your say