BEIJING, Nov. 27 -- Only 24.9 percent of couples now allowed to have a second child have filed applications, according to a survey released Thursday.

The survey by the China Youth Daily found that the economic cost and extra time needed for raising children were the main reasons preventing people from having another.

Of the 2,052 respondents, about 58 percent had not applied due to "high economic cost", with "too much time needed" and "it's enough to have only one child" as the next choices.

Other reasons included "the view on childbearing has changed", "the application procedure is complicated", and "women have to sacrifice too much (with a second child)".

Couples have been permitted to have a second offspring if either parent is an only child since the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in Nov. 2013, though the new rules have taken time to be fully enacted across the country.

Although 11 million more couples now have the right and two million of them were expected to apply each year, only about 800,000 couples had actually applied by the end of September, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Altogether, 47.3 percent respondents simply don't want a second child while the rate is even higher among those who were born in the 1980s and 1990s: 56.8 percent. The younger generation's views on childbearing have started to change.

Ma Xiaohong, deputy director of the Beijing population research institute is not surprised. Surveys by the institute over the years have consistently shown only about 25 percent of respondents having the intention. The number of applications in Beijing started to fall in July and a sharp rise seems unlikely.

Shi Renbing, director of the population and policy research institute at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, claims that if a significant rise in the birth rate is not seen within one or two years, an overall easing of the one-child policy will be discussed and family planning policies will get a thorough going over.

China's one-child policy limited most couples to only one child to control population growth and the relaxation comes as the country strives to address its declining labor force and aging population.