Career sacrifice

If couples do decide to have a second child, the mother may have to sacrifice her career.

In addition to her regular job, Yang Dan runs a small business. If she had another child, she would have to close the business, at least, and possibly even quit her job, too.

However, the pressure the older generation has traditionally exerted on young people to have children has been diminishing recently.

Yang Dan said her parents do not want her to have another child and prefer that she focuses on her own life. Her parents-in-law also respect her opinion, she said.

Fewer births

All of these factors have resulted in fewer babies being born.

Wu Haitao, director of Fengtai Xiluoyuan Community Health Center in Beijing's Fengtai district, has witnessed the change.

He said the number of children born in the community last year fell slightly compared with 2016.

He noted that every baby born in the community must be given mandatory free vaccinations at the health center.

"We expected to see a rise in the number of newborn babies receiving vaccines at the center, but the number actually fell a little," he said.

"I think it is natural that with social development the birth rate will fall, as has happened in some other countries such as Japan. In addition, people face heavy financial pressures, which will affect their decision about having another child."

Experts said the number of second children born since 2016 has not been enough to counter a decline in the number of first babies.

The main reason for the decline in the number of births last year was the result of a fall in the number of first children being born, according to Li Xiru, chief of population and employment at the National Bureau of Statistics, in an article published on the bureau's website.

The overall decline, which surprised many people including experts, prompted public debate about the effect of the universal second-child policy, with some people even worrying about a drastic decline in the population.

However, 51 percent of the babies born last year were second children, a rise of 5 percentage points from 2016, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Li said the number of first-child births last year was 7.2 million, a fall of 2.5 million compared with 2016.

Yuan Xin, a professor of population studies at Nankai University in Tianjin, believes the decline in the number of births will become more pronounced in the next few years, with the number of women of childbearing age－those between 15 and 49－falling by about 5.2 million per year.

In addition many people, especially among the younger generation, are less willing to have children for reasons that have little to do with financial pressures.

They include dwindling adherence to traditional values, such as maintaining the family line, and less need to have children to look after them in old age, Yuan said.