Web Exclusive

Shanghai won't change family planning policy

By Zhao Chunzhe (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-06-30 11:09

Authorities in Shanghai have refused to relax the city's strict family planning policy despite calls to allow all couples the right to have a second child, the Oriental Morning Post reported.

Shanghai People's Congress deputy Hu Min called on the local Population and Family Planning Commission to allow "well educated" families to have a second child regardless of if they have any siblings.

Hu said encouraging people to have more offspring could help alleviate the problem of the city's aging population.

However, the municipal family planning body said the mounting number of migrants coming to the city and the loosening of the policy in 2003, allowing eligible couples to have two children, will ease the problem, the report said.

The municipal family planning body added that the low birth rate in the city is in line with the international trend.

Currently, couples who do not have children from a previous marriage, and who are both only children, are permitted to have a second child.