More than 30,000 Beijing families ask for second child as China eases one-child policy

More than 30,000 families in China’s capital applied to have a second child last year after the mainland eased its one-child policy in 2013, a recent Beijing Health and Family Planning Commission report shows.

Municipal officials estimate the new relaxation will lead to about 270,700 new births over the next five years, or 54,200 per year.

Experts said the lower birth rate of second children was because most families still observed the one-child policy, The Beijing News reported.

However, other experts said that many new migrants to the capital, who were relatively young, would help to increase the birth rate.

The commission’s report shows 30,305 families in Beijing applied to have the second child by the end of last year, with 28,778 families being granted approval.

Its survey revealed that there had been between 2,000 and 3,000 new applications each month, with 97 per cent of them by couples aged 26 to 40.