China says married couples can have up to three children

This article is more than 12 months old

Jun 01, 2021 06:00 am

BEIJING: China said yesterday that married couples may have up to three children, a major policy shift from the existing limit of two after recent data showed a dramatic decline in births in the world's most populous country.

Beijing scrapped its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, replacing it with a two-child limit that failed to result in a sustained surge in births given the high cost of raising children in Chinese cities - a challenge that remains.

The increment will "further optimise" the birth policy, the official Xinhua news agency said in a report following a politburo meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping.

SUPPORTIVE MEASURES

The policy change will come with "supportive measures, which will be conducive to improving our country's population structure, fulfilling the country's strategy of actively coping with an ageing population and maintaining the advantage, endowment of human resources", Xinhua said.

Data has shown a fertility rate of just 1.3 children per woman for 2020 alone, on a par with ageing societies such as Japan and Italy. - REUTERS