BEIJING, May 7 (UPI) -- China's top family planning official warns of a population rebound because of widening wealth gap and early marriages in rural areas in the country.
The official Xinhua news agency quoted National Population and Family Planning Commission Director Zhang Weiqing the current birth rate will not be enough to control the growth because of the new trends. China, with a population of more tahn 1.3 billion, is the world's most populous nation.
"Early marriages are still prevailing in some parts of the country, especially in rural areas, which goes against the family planning policy," Zhang said. The family planning policy encourages late marriages and late child-bearing. The policy also encourages most urban couples to have only one child and rural couples two.
But Zhang said China's widening gap between the rich and the poor is allowing the neo-rich to ignore the policy and have as many children as they want. His agency reported currently, about 10 percent of the richer class has three children.
His agency will continue to offer preferential services to couples following the family planning policy, Zhang said.
