Women delay having children, leading to a drop in birth rates in Shanghai

Shanghai's birth rate, first childbirth age, and average delivery age are all continuing to decline, newly released data by the Shanghai Health Commission showed.

The total fertility rate among locals with registered residency was 0.6 in 2023, down from 0.7 in 2022.

The total fertility rate refers to the number of children a woman has in her life. When TFR is 2.1, it is considered a replacement rate, and anything less than 1.5 indicates a low fertility trap.

About 66.24 percent of local inhabitants, including those with registered residency, or hukou, and migrants who have been here for more than six months, have one child, 29.1 percent have two, and 4.21 percent have three.

More than 74 percent of people with hukou have only one child.

China now allows couples to have three children.

In 2023, there were approximately 6 million female citizens aged 15 to 49, with 3.77 million of them married. Among people with hukou, the figures were 3.02 million and 1.85 million, respectively.

Furthermore, there were 3.06 million migrant women at birth, with nearly half of them married by 2023.

Last year, the average age for women with hukou to have a first child was 31.66 years old and their average age to give birth was 32.56 years old.

In 2022, the number of female residents at birth was 6.24 million, with 4.08 million married.

In 2022, the average age for having a first child was 30.36 years old, while the average age for having children among local women with hukou was 31.18.

The age at which people can have children continues to rise. It was 29.01 in 2015, 30.1 in 2018, 30.29 in 2019, and 30.73 in 2020.

According to medical specialists, the age at which people marry and have children is increasing due to changes in the concept of marriage and family, societal development, employment competition, and personal planning.

"However, women may miss the best time to have children if they marry too late, and both men and women should marry and start families at the optimal child-bearing age," said Dr Dong Xi of Zhongshan Hospital's Reproductive Medicine Center.

To increase birth rates and assist infertile couples, Shanghai has incorporated in-vitro fertilization into government-run medical insurance to alleviate people's financial burden.