China is likely to encounter a peak in births at the end of 2016, one year after the implementation of the country's two-child policy.

According to Yuan Xin, professor with the Population and Development Institute under Nankai University, many women who currently intend to have a second child are now pregnant. Therefore, the birth peak won't occur until the end of this year. Vice Minister Wang Pei'an of the National Health and Family Planning Commission remarked that the situation is generally within expectations.

A total of 8.31 million babies were born in the first half of this year, increasing 6.9 percent from the same period last year. Of those babies, 44.6 percent were second children, up 6.7 percent from the year before, Wang added.

With the implementation of the two-child policy, large numbers of eligible families are choosing to have a second baby. As a result, high-risk pregnancies and a shortage of pediatricians are positioned to become new challenges for the country.