Abstract
What is already known on this topic? Due to shifting circumstances in China, the government has adjusted the child-bearing policy to allow couples to have a second child. This has affected the total number of live births, especially in more developed urban areas. What is added by this report? The total number of live births in the 4 monitoring cities including Chengdu, Wuhan, Shenzhen, and Beijing during 2014–2019 increased by 33.0%, 20.3%, 10.7%, and 8.2%, respectively. From 2014 to 2017, the proportion of total live births that were policy related increased in each city: Chengdu (2.0% to 35.0%), Wuhan (1.0% to 25.1%), Shenzhen (0.6% to 39.4%), and Beijing (3.1% to 30.2%). What are the implications for public health practice? Our results showed that the implementation of the new adjusted family planning policy alleviated the downward trends in total live births and is unlikely to lead a baby boom as estimated by previous studies.
Highlights
The family planning policy has resulted in reduction of live births from 1982 and rapid economic growth in China [1]
The pressure of the ageing, pension fund deficiencies, and increasing labor shortages has accelerated the announcement of the new adjusted family planning policy by the Chinese government, including a policy allowing couples in which at least one marital partners was an only-child to have two children in the end of 2013, and the implementation of a universal two-child policy in January 2016 [2]. These adjustments were especially important for relatively developed urban areas because rural areas were subject to different policies since the 1980s [1]
The study aimed to investigate the variations in the number of live births during 2013–2019 and the impact of new family planning policy on live births
Summary
The Impact of New Adjustments to the Family Planning Policy on the Number of Live Births in Four Developed Urban Areas — China, 2013−2019. The pressure of the ageing, pension fund deficiencies, and increasing labor shortages has accelerated the announcement of the new adjusted family planning policy by the Chinese government, including a policy allowing couples in which at least one marital partners was an only-child to have two children in the end of 2013, and the implementation of a universal two-child policy in January 2016 [2] These adjustments were especially important for relatively developed urban areas because rural areas were subject to different policies since the 1980s [1]. The data were collected from 3 continued surveillance projects from 2014–2019 that were founded by China-World Health Organization (WHO) Biennial Collaborative Projects entitled “Impact of the new family planning policy on maternal and children’s healthcare services” (2014–2015, 2016–2017) and “Surveillance of high-risk maternal health services and management” (2018–2019) These three surveillance projects were conducted to identify the number of live births and relevant maternal characteristics which may be influenced by changes in the family planning policy. The maternal and child health (MCH) information system covering the whole city was available in each
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
