China end their two-child policy, allows couple to have three children

China  on Monday that each couple would be permitted to have up to three children, a major policy shift from the existing limit of two children after recent data showed a dramatic decline in births in the world's most populous country. For the majority of Chinese couples, it will be the first time that they will be legally allowed to have three children. During the period when China strictly implemented the one-child policy - from the late 1970s to 2016 - only couples from minority ethnicities were allowed more than one child. The decision to allow three children every family is a response to China’s deepening ageing problem and aims to improve the country’s population structure in the future. It was taken at a meeting of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) Central Committee’s powerful Politburo, chaired by President and party general secretary, Xi Jinping, on Monday.

According to state media reports, the meeting decided that it was necessary to allow couples to have three children to help improve China’s population structure, implement the strategy to actively respond to an ageing population and maintain the country’s population dividend. It was emphasised at the meeting that party committees and governments at all levels should strengthen planning and policy coordination to implement the three-child-birth policy in accordance with the law, state media reports said. The decision was implemented five years after Beijing implemented the two-child policy in 2016 - which, according to experts, did not have the desired effect to counter the problem of China’s ageing society. The total population figure on the mainland stood at 1.41178 billion on November 1, 2020.The rate is the slowest since 1953 when the first census was carried out. The slump in population growth rate - despite Beijing withdrawing the one-child policy in 2016 - will add pressure on Beijing to incentivise child-bearing as the most populous country deals with a rapidly ageing population and the added economic burden.