By Reuters Staff
4 Min Read
BEIJING (Reuters) - Married Chinese couples can have up to three children, China announced on Monday, in a major shift from the limit of two after recent data showed a dramatic decline in births in the world’s most populous country.
Children play next to adults at a park in Beijing, China June 1, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
The cost of raising a child in urban China has deterred many would-be parents, and China’s fertility rate has fallen to just 1.3 children per woman, despite Beijing’s scrapping of the one-child policy in 2016.
Below are some of the costs of raising a child in China’s big cities.
2021-06-01 11:35:36 GMT2021-06-01 19:35:36(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
SHANGHAI, June 1 (Xinhua) We could live anywhere in the world. But we chose China, said Miguel Sazatornil and his wife, Maria Cruz Alonso, both sociologists from Spain who have lived in China for 19 years.
Sitting down with Xinhua reporters in a Shanghai cafe, the couple shared their views on why the Communist Party of China (CPC), which will soon celebrate its centenary, could lead Chinese people to a better future based on their experiences.
In their opinion, it is no easy feat for a political party to have survived and prospered for 100 years, and the key to the CPC s success is its unremitting efforts to achieve well-being for the people.
Married Chinese couples can now have up to three children. The announcement is a major shift from China’s existing limit of two. It’s a response to recent data; there’s been a dramatic decline in births in the country and China's fertility rate has fallen to just 1.3 children per woman. That despite Beijing’s scrapping of its one-child policy in 2016. Why the decline? The cost of raising a child in urban China has deterred many would-be parents. [Mother Jacqueline Wang, saying:] "Because we're living in a big city, such as Beijing, the work pace is fast. And it isn't easy to make money. The cost of time to raise a child is also high.” So how much does it cost to have a child in China’s big cities? 1. $15,700 That’s how much private clinics in China are charging women for to give birth. Prenatal tests and deliveries in public hospitals are usually covered by state insurance - but resources are tight and more Chinese women are turning to private options.
Separatist DPP makes a pariah of itself at WHO despite manipulative social media campaigns to slander mainland The World Health Organization assembly room with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivering a speech in May 2020 Photo: AFP
Although it is now a foregone conclusion the island of Taiwan has been once again ruled out of this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) and will continue to be excluded in the foreseeable future if it does not return to the one-China principle, some organizations that have worked hard for Taiwan’s accession still grumble bitterly.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHA will be held virtually from Monday to June 1, Taiwan island has not been invited to participate in the event, the fifth year that the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO) has denied the proposal initiated by the US and a handful of other countries.