Shanghai to see 175,000 births in baby boom year

By Cai Wenjun  |   2008-10-24  |     ONLINE EDITION

A TOTAL of 81,200 babies were delivered in the city in the first half of this year, an increase of 6.14 percent from the same period last year. The number of newborns is expected to go up to 175,000 by the end of the year, 9,000 more than last year, said officials of the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission today.
The commission predicted that next year too will see 170,000 births, indicating that the baby boom, which began in 2006, will continue.
Analysts say that the last baby boom was in the 1980s. That generation is now of marriageable and child-bearing age, which is why Shanghai is seeing another baby boom right now. The number of migrants to Shanghai has also gone up. Moreover, city men are increasingly marrying outsiders, raising the population.
Migrant women delivered 35,200 babies from January to June this year and the total number will reach about 75,000 by the end of this year, officials said.
Sun Changmin, vice director of Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission, said Shanghai will see a wave-shape rising curve and reach its peak in 2050.
There were 13.34 million residents in 1990 in Shanghai and the figure climbed to 18.58 million in 2007. The average annual population growth in 17 years has been 300,000.