It’s tough being a parent in China.
Fourth baby boom to hit China
May 3, 2006 (China Knowledge) – Chinese population experts are predicting a mini-baby boom before 2010 as a result of the country’s family planning laws, reported State-run Xinhua news agency.
Almost 100 million single children have been born since the initiation of the one-child policy in 1973, and the 1984 policy which allows rural couples to have a second child if the first was a girl. These two batches of offspring that resulted from these policies have now reached the age suitable for marriage and childbirth.
These young adults are therefore likely to contribute to the latest baby boom.
China has previously experienced three baby booms. The first in the early 1950s and the second in the 1960s have led to the implementation of the one-child policy in 1973.
Following that, the third baby boom came in the late 1980s after this policy’s generation of offspring was of age to contribute to a higher birth rate, compared with the huge decline when the policy was first introduced.
Although the fourth baby boom is expected to be relatively smaller than the previous ones, family planning laws would be enforced to stabilize the low birth rate, stressed Zhang Weiqing, Minister in charge of the National Population and Family Planning Commission.
Government statistics show that the average family birth rate is 1.8 at present, compared to 5.8 in the early 1970s when the policy was introduced.
Copyright 2006 ChinaKnowledge.com
In related news, China’s Xinhua news agency reports that the country’s one-child policy has helped it “prevent 400 million births in the last three decades”. Full story here. Meanwhile, an India Times story has the same official quoted in the Xinhua story saying that China’s rich and powerful citizens have “no privileges” and that they too must observe the one-child policy. That story here.
