Shanghai males want babies more than women

In Shanghai, men are more willing than women to have a baby, a recent survey has revealed. According to The China Daily, a poll of over 12,000 Shanghai residents - men and women - found an overall decline in couples' willingness to have a baby, Shanghai Municipal Population and Family Planning Commission announced Thursday.

Among them, people from Shanghai are more unwilling than those from other provinces, and women are more unwilling than men.
 
Among the 8,000 from Shanghai, nearly 8% are unwilling to have a baby - 3.37 percentage points higher than in 2003. Among the 4,000 from other provinces who have stayed in Shanghai for at least six months, 2.49 percent are unwilling to have a baby - 1.1 percentage points higher than in 2004.

In a multiple-choice question, 52.99 percent said they are unwilling because of the high cost, and 48.28 percent said they would rather stick to a family of two. Some 35.1 percent said they don't want a baby to affect their career development.

The willingness decreases with income. Woman are more unwilling, according to the survey conducted in May. Of the 8,000 Shanghai permanent residents, a man, on average, wants 1.08 children and a woman, on average, wants 1.06.