Are Chinese Parents Willing to Have a Second Child? Investigation on the Ideal and Realistic Fertility Willingness of Different Income Family

ResearchFindings: This study investigates the ideal and realistic second-child fertility willingness of Chinese parents and the associated factors. Altogether 4,510 Chinese parents of only-child (ages 3–6 years) were sampled and surveyed online. The descriptive and logistic regression analyses indicated that: (1) about 74.1% of the parents were ideally willing to have two children and preferred a female second-child, but less than one-third of them reported having definite fertility intentions and plans; (2) the ideal pattern of second-child fertility willingness was positively associated with family income, whereas a V-shaped relationship was found between fertility intentions and plans and family income levels after realistic consideration; (3) the child-rearing pressure has caused a gap between the ideal and realistic perspectives of fertility willingness, with parental fertility beginning to transition toward a contemporary individual preference-centered orientation. Practice or Policy: The findings imply that policy attention should be paid to the pressure and needs of family fertility by linking fertility policies with providing adequate support to parents.