An expert suggested that the Shanghai municipal government should alleviate restrictions on second births in 2016 to ease the burden of population aging, local media reported Friday.

Gui Shixun, director of the Shanghai Municipal Population and Family Planning Commission, said that women between 20 and 29 -- prime childbearung age -- will decreased sharply from 2016, based on analysis of the population's age structure.

In the next 10 years, the number of people born as registered permanent Shanghai residents will continue to decline, Gui said, predicting that only 51,000 babies will be born in 2010.

Based on the analysis, he said loosening restrictions on second children as of 2016 will not bring on a baby boom.

In 2003, there were about 2.55 million senior citizens in Shanghai, the Shanghai Municipal Population and Family Planning said, predicting that half the Shanghai population will be over 65 in 2030.

Since no welfare system for the aged has been popularized, their families will shoulder the responsibilities to take care of them, Gui acknowledged.

Some experts also worry that the total population will soar out of control if the one-child policy is loosened.

Cui disagrees. "Due to the high education expenses and survival competition nowadays, the number of families who are expecting the second child will not be huge," he said.

China's largest city Shanghai has began to implement a new population policy since April that made it a bit easier for certain locals to have a second child.

The policy readjustments, though only limited in scope, indicate more humanitarian care. The city's family planning authority, however, underscored that the new regulations did not mean to "greatly loosen restrictions on second births."

"They are not to encourage more childbearing," said Xia Yi, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Population and Family Planning Commission. "The one-child policy still remains the basis for the new regulation."