China to encourage childbirth in 2019

BEIJING - The China Family Planning Association will continue providing guidance on reproductive health and childbirth, helping raise public willingness to have children, and resolving childcare difficulties.

Labor pain, high costs of childcare and education, and shortage of kindergartens were the main reasons that stopped many Chinese parents from having babies, according to Wang Peian, deputy head of the association, in a work conference in Beijing.

In response to a rapidly aging population, China allowed married couples to have two children from 2016, ending its decades-long one-child policy.

Wang said the association would explore more services in childcare and early child development for children aged from under three years old in 2019.

A total of 28 cities in China established guidance centers for childbirth in 2018, to provide standard and convenient services for young couples and growth trainings for children under three years old.

In 2019, the association will help set up more guidance centers and online information platforms for marriage and pregnancy check-ups.

A total of 17.58 million new babies were born in Chinese hospitals in 2017, and about 51 percent of the newborns were not the first child in their families, according to the National Health Commission.