CHINA'S CHANTS

China sees births fall despite push for second child.

The number of births in China fell last year even though the world's populous country has relaxed its one-child policy to allow all couples to have two children.

THE country saw 17.23 million births in 2017, compared to 17.86 million in the previous year, the  head of the National Bureau of Statistics, Ning Jizhe, said on Thursday.

The nation of some 1.4 billion people began to phase its one-child policy in 2015 in response to concerns about an ageing population and shrinking workforce, prompting the number births to rise the following year.

While last year marked a decline, an unnamed official from the National Health and Family Planning Commission said in a statement-

The number of births remained ''at a relatively high level''.

The decrease was due to the declining population women of child-bearing age and people's decision to get married and have children later in life, the commission said.

''Socioeconomic factors have more obviously influenced people's willingness give birth and child-bearing behaviour,'' it said-

Siting financial costs, lack of childcare services and women's career development pressure as three major reasons.