The Influence of Household Income, Education, Gender on Fertility Willingness in Contemporary China

Why does the birthrate in China continuously decline? Why are Chinese people unwilling to have children now even after the One-Child Policy has been abandoned? I propose that the government policy was not the single crucial factor affecting the reduction of births in China. Household income, education, and gender also may have played a role. I use the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey to analyze the relationships between these three factors and the ideal number of children. The sample size of this subset is 2,373. Ordinary least square regression reveals that the ideal number of children increases as household income increases, while increasing education reduces the ideal number of children. Gender of potential parents does not have an effect on predicting the ideal number of children. The findings support the effects of household income and education on fertility willingness but reject that of gender. This study contributes to a sociological perspective on the demography of China. It suggests from an institutional perspective which factors would need to be changed to increase individuals’ fertility willingness