Around 1,700 couples in Shanghai have received approval for a second child. This occurrence comes after Shanghai recently relaxed the one child policy on March 1st of this year. The requirement for the second child approval in this case is that at least one of the spouses in the relationship must be an only child. The Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission stated that couples who’s first child is a female are more likely to apply for a second child. Of those who applied, the range of the age of females was from 22 to 45 with the average age being 33. The range of the age of male applicants was 23 to 54 with an average age of 35.
Further Reading: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/society/More-than-1700-Shanghai-couples-receive-secondchild-approval/shdaily.shtml
I’m still waiting to see data that shows how numbers relate to government expectations. From my understanding the rates at which people were applying for second children was well below expectations.
If China continues down this path of relaxing its one child policy, it is bound to run into serious overpopulation issues sooner than expected. (Though it is hard to argue against allowing parents to have control over the families they wish to create.)
I agree its difficult to argue for directly controlling a couples reproductive rights. However, I expect to see a shift from a stricter one child policy to a policy that puts economic disincentives on having a second child rather than an issued mandate.