Expert: China should fully relax second child policy
專家呼吁全面放開二胎政策

China has relaxed its one-child policy for more than a year, but surprisingly few couples are choosing to have a second child. Some experts are calling for an accelerated disposal of restrictions on a second child, warning that the country's birthrate is moving towards a dangerously low level.

A poll taken place in five provinces in China, including Guangdong, Shanghai, and Beijing shows it doesn't matter if families already had a child, over 30 percent said they wouldn't have a second child.

Across China, only one million eligible families applied to have a second child under the newly relaxed policy, just a third of the number authorities had expected.

Yun Na is a working mom - and due to have her second child in two months. But she worries about balancing work with being a mother.

"I grew up alone. So I always wanted two children... Two is definitely harder to manage. My husband and I both work... I can't afford to quit my job. So the only way is if I continue going to work and my parents come to care for them, while I'm out all day," Yun said.

A report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says the fertility rate in China is at a dangerously low level, now 1.4 children per

woman, close to the global warning of a low fertility trap, which could result in an ageing population and a labor shortage.

Experts are calling on the government to fully lift all restrictions to have a second child, and the sooner the better, along with adjusting the family planning policy even more.

"Maybe if we remove the birth-control policy, there will be more birth in a couple of years, it looks like a disadvantage in a short time, but it will make the population more balanced in the age structure in the long run, so it will benefit our economic development," said Professor Zheng Zhenzhen from Institute of Population & Labor Economics, CASS.