China Relaxes Family Planning Rules; Each Couple To Be Allowed 3 Children

A move taken in a bid to stop the aging population & declining birth rate from disrupting its economic prospects said a Bloomberg report. 

(Photo credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

New Delhi: After a Politburo meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping, China will allow each couple to have up to three children a move taken in a bid to stop the aging population & declining birth rate from disrupting its economic prospects. 

Although it wasn't clear when the move would take effect, it is likely to be implemented in the five-year period which started this year, according to state owned new agency Xinhua.

“Allowing every couple to have three children and implementing related support policies will help improve the population’s structure,” the Xinhua News Agency reported according to Bloomberg. 

China has been relaxing its birth policy, in 2016 the count was increased to 2 however, it didn't do much to increase the declining birth rate. As per the seventh national population census released by the Chinese government earlier this month, China's population in all the 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities touched 1.41178 billion.

As per the data, the population rose by 72 million over the past decade to 1.411 billion in 2020. It said annual growth averaged 0.53 per cent, decelerating from the previous decade. 

The latest data revealed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) highlighted that the demographic crisis China faced was expected to deepen as the population above 60 years grew to 264 million, up by 18.7 per cent last year, as per the news agency PTI.

The ageing of the population will only put pressure on the long-term balanced development of the population in the coming period, the NBS added. The proportion of people aged between 15 and 59 was 894 million, down by 6.79 percentage points from that in the 2010 census.

The Politburo also said that China “will prudently lift the retirement age in a phased manner,” according to Bloomberg. 

In China, birth limits were enforced since 1980 to control the population growth but the working-age population is falling too fast impacting the efforts to create a prosperous economy. Although birth limits were eased, but couples are discouraged because of high costs, cramped housing and job discrimination faced by mothers.