The ratio of third children among Chinese newborns in 2022 was 15 percent, 0.5 percentage points higher than in 2021, a statistical bulletin released by China's top health authority on Thursday showed. Experts said the increase shows China's third-child policy has had an impact and that the government should keep boosting childbirth-supporting policies.
According to the Statistical Bulletin on Health Development in China 2022 released by the National Health Commission (NHC), the Chinese mainland had 9.56 million newborns in 2022, with the second child of a married couple and three or more children in a family accounting for 38.9 percent and 15 percent respectively.
The 2021 health statistical bulletin showed the number of births in China was 10.62 million in 2021. And the ratios of second-child and third-child among newborns were 41.4 percent and 14.5 percent.
