Survey: Most university students want one child
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-21 13:37

More than two-thirds of university students surveyed said they don't want more than one child and indicated that having a son is less important than it was to their parents.

The results indicate successes in China's one-child family planning policy, experts said.

Eleven percent said they don't want any children and would prefer a comfortable lifestyle with double incomes and no kids.

The survey of 1,800 senior students from 21 universities was conducted by students from Guangzhou-based Jinan University and reported by the Beijing Morning Post yesterday.

More than 76 percent of those surveyed said they hope to get married between the ages of 25 to 29. Fully 80.4 percent said they would prefer to have a child two years after they are married, the report said.

Respondents said the main reason for having a child is to consolidate relations. Love of a child and carrying on one's lineage were the next two reasons cited.

Tan Kejian of the Demographic Society of China said the report reflects diversified child-bearing tendencies and shows the traditional idea of a son to carry on the family name is becoming less important.

"This is the first large-scale survey on university students' child-bearing preferences," said professor Lu Jiehua at Beijing University.

The one-child policy was enacted in the 1970s to curb a possible population explosion.