Expert calls for more birth-friendly policies

A total fertility rate of 2.1 is healthy for a nation, a local expert said yesterday, while the current rate, the average number of children per female, is 1.3 in China. 

A new policy allowing couples to have a third child can help improve the rate, however couples should have a proper plan for their family and more birth-friendly policies are needed.

"The best time for a woman to have children is between 23 and 30. The fertility ability drops dramatically after 35 years old. We suggest women get pregnant before 40, concerning the risk to both mother and children and a possibility of congenital deformity after 40 years old," said Dr Xu Congjian, president of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Hospital of Fudan University.

The doctor was speaking at a seminar in the city where a congenital deformity prevention and control alliance and cervical cancer diagnosis and treatment network were established within dozens of maternal hospitals across the country.