Second child applications much lower than estimates

Around 1 million couples in China have applied for a second child since the country lifted its one-child policy in March 2014, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) said Monday.

A commission official said that the number fell within the government's projections, despite the previous estimate of 2 million applicants every year when the policy was lifted.

The relaxed family-planning policy, implemented last March, allows couples to have a second child if either spouse is an only child. Previously, only select types of couples could have a second child, including those whose first child was disabled.

"The number met our expectations, and this year will witness more couples applying to have a second child," Mao Qun'an, the NHFPC spokesperson, told a news briefing Monday.

920,000 of the 1 million applications have been approved.

"One major task for 2015 is to guarantee the maternal service for couples applying for a second child," Mao said.

Local governments should simplify healthcare procedures and coordinate with healthcare clinics, he added.

Despite the government's positive attitude on the new policy, many provinces and cities have been reporting lower-than-expected applications.

Beijing has received 30,305 applications as of December 30, 2014, which was lower than the expected 50,000, the Beijing Times reported Monday. On a monthly basis, the number of applicants decreased from 2,976 in August to 1,812 in November last year.

In Anhui Province where the new policy was carried out since last January, only 23,000 couples were allowed to have a second child as of October 2014. But the previous survey showed that 190,000 couples in Anhui who met the qualifications considered having a second child, chinanews.com reported.

Huang Wenzheng, a former Harvard University assistant professor and an expert on population, told the Global Times that the number of applicants will continue to decline in 2015 rather than increase.

"The two-child policy will not solve the aging problem because many young couples prefer not to have children," Huang said.

Scholars including Huang have also appealed to the government to scrap the collection of "social maintenance fees," or fines on birth control violations, to encourage couples to have children.