(Yicai Global) Dec. 26 -- Three years of China relaxing its family planning policy, once known as the 'one child rule,' has failed to inspire citizens to rear more young, according to an expert in demography.

The number of babies born in China this year will probably be below 15 million and may even be closer to 14 million, China Times reported yesterday, citing Huang Wenzheng, a senior researcher at non-governmental think tank Center for China and Globalization.

One of the main reasons the birth rate is in decline is the continuous decrease in the number of women at a suitable age for childbearing -- 15 to 49 in China. The second is that many parents looking to have a second child did so as soon as they were able to.

The country brought in its universal two child policy in 2015, with many Chinese scholars believing this would result in a baby boom and possibly excessive population growth. But despite a spike in births to nearly 17.9 million in 2016, a five-year high 7.9 percent gain, the number was already in decline by 2017, when the 17.2 million births failed to meet expectations laid out by the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

The country's biggest birthing province, Shandong, has had far fewer births so far this year than last. In Yantai city, the first-half figure fell 16 percent to 26,902, while in Qingdao it dived more than 21 percent to 81,112 from January through November.

"Looking at the data, I'm more pessimistic than I was a few months ago," Huang said.