1 lakh more babies born in Beijing last year compared to 2015

Beijing, Mar 22 (PTI) About one lakh more babies were born in Beijing last year as compared to 2015 after the decades-old one child policy was replaced, local officials said today.According to the cit

Beijing, Mar 22 (PTI) About one lakh more babies were born in Beijing last year as compared to 2015 after the decades-old one child policy was replaced, local officials said today.

According to the city’s health and family planning commission, Beijing had about 2.80 lakh newborns in 2016, an increase of 62 per cent from 2015.

About 30 per cent of the newborns were not the first child in their families.

Last year’s data was the first after China ended its decades-long one-child policy.

Last year, China permitted parents to have a second child.

Rates of maternal mortality, infant mortality and mortality among children under five also dropped in 2016, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Beijing has also pledged to improve maternal and child health services by increasing the number of obstetricians, midwives and hospital beds.

According to a document released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission in January, 18.46 million babies were born in Chinese hospitals last year, the highest since 2000 and 1.31 million more than 2015.

This is published unedited from the PTI feed.