According to the latest statistics held by China Population Information and Research Center, from 2000 to April 2003, China's birth rate has witnessed a continuous decrease from 1.403 percent in 2000 to 1.241 percent in 2003.

Recently, a survey made by All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) tells that 40 percent of the young married women are not willing to have children.

And in terms of family, the proportion of those who choose to have nuclear family dropped by 11.3 percent and that of those for DINK (double-income-no-kid) rose by 1.1 percent.

City women are undergoing some changes in their conception of having babies. Now it seems pretty normal for women to have no kid. An example is that in a medium-sized foreign company in Beijing, the 21 women at thirty or above, five have babies, one is expecting and the other 15 all have no kid. And only 2 of the 15 intend to have children in the future.

Therefore some women not giving birth to children is a major reason for the dropping birth rate in China.

The traditional Chinese conception of more children for more blessings and bringing up children for the old age is no longer popular among modern city women whose conception on birth-giving has greatly changed with the fashion.

One main reason is that pressure in work and studies and tight schedule deprive women of leisure to give birth to children.

Also some other people think that having children will affect present quality of life for the couple do not have a solid economic base.

Marriage with no sex is another reason. As many couples are busying with their work they do not even have leisure for a meal together, let alone to care of having babies.

Women of certain jobs are affected by their work environment and schedule. The birth-giving health of women staff in computer operation, hospitals, chemical industry, laboratory, textile industry, public transportation and airlines is likely to suffer from damage.

Low birth-giving rate of modern women is closely related to the modern life. In this rapidly developing era, women are more and more independent and bearing heavy pressures in the meanwhile. Therefore no responsible woman would give an easy answer to the serious matter of whether or not to have babies.

(People's Daily  April 2, 2004)