Experts discuss reproductive health, fertility and population

Less than 13 percent of families with Shanghai permanent residency have a second child, while nearly one third of families from other provinces have a second child, according to a survey released by the Shanghai Health Commission on Sunday, the eve of the World Contraception Day.

Health experts, sociologists and demographers held an online meeting on Sunday to discuss reproductive health, fertility protection and population development.

A survey covering 19,314 women aged between 20 and 49 living in Shanghai's 16 districts was released during the meeting, indicating that education cost, child-raising cost and high housing cost are the three leading factors affecting people's desire to have children.

The average demand is less than two children according to the survey, while people from outside Shanghai have a stronger desire in having more than one child.

The desire is much lower than government policy, which allows each couple to have three children.

People with a bigger house have a higher desire for children, while families with less than 100,000 yuan (US$14,025) annual income have the lowest desire.

The top reason that people don't want one child or don't want more children is the high costs of child-bearing, education and housing.

The child-raising cost is higher than education expense. Shanghai children's expenses on education and interest cultivation is higher than families from other provinces.

Zhou Haiwang from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences said the government should introduce more favorable policies and conduct more investment in education and housing to encourage couples to have children.

Favorable welfare and insurance policies on employment and child-delivery should be introduced to reduce enterprises' burden in hiring female employees and protect women's legal rights.

More facilities like nurseries should be built to release families' burden of taking care of children, he said.

In addition to the desire to have children, the reduction of fertility was also discussed at the meeting. Experts said the delayed age of first marriage and abortion among unmarried woman are important causes influencing fertility.

Frequent abortion can impact women's fertility. It is one of the causes for the rise of infertility, said Dr Cheng Linan, a reproductive health expert.

Experts also called for sex education among minors and young people to bring fertility protection to younger people.

"A survey on domestic university students in 2020 found many students have a very open attitude towards sex but a lack of proper sex knowledge," said Yan Hongli from Changhai Hospital's reproductive medicine center. "Only half of students have received sex education in school. Parents, schools and government should shoulder the responsibility to promote reproductive knowledge and sex education."