Does the one‐child generation want more than one child at their fertility age?

Abstract

This study aims to understand intentions to have more children among reproductive-age Chinese women who currently have had one child with the goal of understanding the factors influencing Chinese women's fertility intention 2 years after implementation of the universal two-child policy. Background: On January 1, 2016, the national one-child policy formally ended in China. Do Chinese women desire to have more than one child? This study brings feminist insight into the Chinese contexts of economic development and patrilocal cultural tradition. Method: This study used nationally representative data (n = 65,355) from the 2017 China Fertility Survey. Logistic regression was used to explore the determinants of the intention of having more children. Results: Findings reveal that women from one-child families are least likely to want additional children. Women's higher income is negatively related to the desire to have more children. Rural residence and having a female firstborn child are correlated with a greater likelihood of desiring additional children. Implications: Authoritative social policies may have changed fertility behaviors for a generation of Chinese families, but removing restrictive fertility policies may not bring about higher fertility rates. New family size norms and family-friendly social policies may be needed to facilitate higher fertility rates in China.

Fertility status and associated factors among the reproductive age group in Ethiopia: Mini Demographic and Health Survey 2019

“…The nding was supported by a study conducted in Ghana and another sub-Saharan Africa [15,16]. This could explain by in place of residence, evidence suggests that limited access to family planning and reproductive health information in rural areas and services contributes to these outcomes and rural residents desiring additional children [17].…”

The Arrival of the Three-child Policy: Content Analysis of Chinese and Western Media Attitudes of the Policy’s Impact on Chinese women

“…Secondly, the cost of women's childbearing is also a big challenge for China to improve the reproductive environment. As Chinese couples pay more attention to the quality of childbirth rather than the quantity, the corresponding birth cost will also increase (Wang et al, 2022). However, this cost is not only reflected in the explicit expenditure of a family to raise children, but also causes more invisible losses to women.…”

Fertility decline and age-structure in China and India

“…Families who were allowed to have only one child preferred to have a son, which was frequently achieved by sex-selective abortion (Kashyap and Villavicencio, 2016). Even after relaxing these originally very restrictive policies, fertility rates continued to decline due to high costs of living, changing societal norms, and delayed marriage, all influencing individuals' decisions to have fewer children (Piotrowski and Tong, 2016;Wang et al, 2022).…”