Objective  To examine variations in fertility intention and action and their influencing factors among married employees borne during 1980′s in Yinchuan city.

  Methods  Using cross-sectional study design, we conducted a questionnaire survey among 768 married employees recruited with cluster random sampling in 5 public institutions and 5 enterprises in Yinchuan city of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region between November 2016 and November 2017.

  Results  Of the participants, 24.35% reported that they had the number of child just as they intended to have; 33.46% reported that the gender of their children was the same as they had been desired to be; and 17.45% reported that they had the children just as they desired for both the number and the gender of their children. Multinomial logistic regression revealed following main influencing factors of fertility intention and action among the participants: with undergraduate education (odds ratio OR = 0.39, 95% confidence interval 95% CI: 0.22 – 0.71 compared to senior high school education and below), monthly income (3 001 – 5 000 Yuan RMB: OR = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.13 – 3.47, > 5 000 Yuan RMB: OR = 3.49, 95% CI: 1.73 – 7.04 compared to < 3 000 Yuan RMB), and working in an enterprise (OR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.14 – 3.34 compared to working in a public institution).

  Conclusion  In Yinchuan city, the fertility intention is stronger than the fertility action among married employees born during 1980′s and the gap between fertility intention and fertility action is relatively narrower among the employees with lower education, higher monthly income, and working in an enterprise.