Housing price and fertility rate

The 6th National Population Census in 2010 shows China's total fertility rate is lower than the earlier estimation. It is also far below the replacement rate and world average fertility rate. China's low fertility rate is particularly worrisome in the background of emerging labor shortage and fast population aging when its per capita income is still low. In addition, low fertility rates in neighboring East Asian countries (regions) ignite more concern. We find that the urban fertility rate is strongly correlated with housing prices. Particularly, the fertility rate is higher in cities where housing is more spacious or housing price is cheaper. High housing price implies heavy living costs, which reduces resources available for raising children and the willingness to have children.