The Impact of Neighborhood Environment on Women’s Willingness to Have a Second Child in China

Abstract

In recent years, the Chinese government has changed the one-child policy that was implemented more than 3 decades ago and has began encouraging couples to have 2 children. However, this cannot quickly change people’s reproductive concepts after more than 30 years of low fertility rate and birth control. In this context, the aim of our study was to assess the effect of neighborhood environment on Chinese women’s fertility-willingness for a second child. Our results show that there is a statistically significant relationship between neighborhood environment and women’s fertility-willingness for a second child. Women living in affluent neighborhoods with better living environments have lower fertility-willingness for a second child than those in poor neighborhoods. However, childcare institutions (such as kindergartens) provide shared childcare and improve women’s fertility-willingness. We suggest that to encourage more couples to have a second child, it is necessary to increase the number of neighborhood kindergartens. In addition, local governments must improve the social welfare of migrant households and loosen the requirements for migrant households to obtain local hukou, which will allow migrant children to enjoy local public services, especially education services.