Chinese think cost of raising children very high

BEIJING - About 87 percent of Chinese believe the cost of raising children is very high, a study has shown.

Some 3,283 people took part in the study carried out by Chinese website sina.com based on a finding by a Nanjing-based university, China Daily reported.

Parents who accompanied their children for registration at the School of Foreign Language and Literature of Nanjing University, were asked about the cost of raising a child.

The were asked to fill in a form which had several categories, including education fees, medical fees and daily expenses. It also asked parents to specify the total cost incurred by them on their child in 18 years.

The results showed that most ordinary families spend about 100,000 yuan (about $14,800) on their child before he or she reaches university age, the wealthy ones spend 300,000 yuan, China Daily said.

The Chinese government released a national education plan for the next decade, saying the country’s fiscal education expenditure should be increased to four percent of the GDP in 2012 and pre-school education should be universal by 2020.