中國二胎政策有望放開

China's population authority is considering the possibility of allowing all urban couples to have a second child.

據《京華時報》報道，中國政府有望在“十二五規劃”（2011-2015）年末放松計劃生育政策，允許二胎，此舉旨在減輕工齡人口缺乏以及老年人口的贍養問題。全國政協委員、人口資源環境委員會副主任王玉慶透露，中國計生部門目前正在考慮在全國城市地區放開二胎政策。目前在農村和少數民族地區，如果夫婦的第一個孩子是女孩，政策允許生第二胎。

王慶玉認為，政策放開不會導致人口暴漲。他說，城市化進程已經改變了人們的生育觀念。在京滬這樣的大城市，撫養孩子的成本高昂，也促使人口出生率持續下降，所以出生率總體會保持穩定。中國現行的計劃生育政策始于上世紀70年代初，目的在于抑制當時人口過快增長的勢頭。按現行規定，只有雙方均為獨生子女的夫婦才能生養二胎。

China to loosen family planning policy

The Chinese government is likely to loosen its family planning policies at the end of the 12fth Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) to address the country's working-age population shortage and an increasing burden to support the elderly, the Beijing Times reported. China's population authority is considering the possibility of allowing all urban couples to have a second child, said Wang Yuqing, Deputy Director of the Population, Resources and Environment Committee under China's top advisory body. Currently, couples residing in rural areas and members of minority ethnic groups are allowed to have a second child when their first-born is a girl.

Yu said he believed loosening the policy would not profoundly affect the population, adding that urbanization has transformed people's ideas on family planning. In major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the birth rate continues to drop due to the high cost of raising a child. The current family planning policy, which was initiated in the early 1970s to control China's then-rapidly growing population, stipulates that only "only-child" couples in urban areas can have two children.

(China.org.cn March 8, 2011)