CRI听力:Baby Boom Strains City Resources

For many Chinese families, it would be highly desirable to have their children born in the Year of the Dragon.

This four-month-pregnant woman in the southern city of Guangzhou explains:

"Some people believe that a child born in the Year of the Dragon is more of a natural leader who is successful, confident, wise, brave and beautiful. Many of my friends are also planning to have children in this especially auspicious year."

According to the Institute of Population at Renmin University, some 20 million babies are likely to be delivered this year. That's an increase of 5 percent over last year.

Demographers say this new baby boom, which began in 2005, will continue until after 2014, as those who were born after the 1980s enter their reproductive years.

The increase in the number of newborns is also expected after a more lenient application of the "one-child policy" was introduced last year. It allows couples who are both single children to have a second child.

This has already put a strain on obstetrics hospitals across the country, especially in big cities.

By the end of last year, the number of mothers-to-be had exceeded capacity by nearly 50 percent at the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital. It is expected to continue soaring this year.

Zhou Yi is a manager at Shanghai-based United Family Hospital and Clinics.

"It's predicted that the number of newborns in our hospital will increase by 25 percent compared to last year. We are planning to add 25 percent more delivery rooms and clinical wards to meet the demand."

The baby boom is also creating severe challenges for kindergartens.

Data from the Ministry of Education indicate that there are nearly 140,000 kindergartens nationwide. They offer places to more than 26 million kids, only half the total number of kindergarten-aged children in the country.

In Beijing alone, more than 450,000 babies were born during the past three years. But the local educational authority says the city offers only about 200,000 kindergarten spaces. That means more than half of Beijing's kindergarten-age children are unlikely to find a spot in a class unless special measures are taken.

The municipal government has recently pledged to build and expand 110 kindergartens this year to accommodate more children.

Population experts call on local governments across the country to think about farsighted measures such as bracing primary schools for the future effects of the current baby boom.

For CRI, I'm Li Ling.