Married couples in China as of yesterday are allowed to have two children, after concerns over an ageing population and shrinking workforce ushered in an end to the country’s controversial one-child policy.
The change, which was announced in October by the Chinese Communist Party and signed into law on Sunday, took effect yesterday, Xinhua news agency reported.
The one-child policy, instituted in the late 1970s, restricted most couples to only a single offspring through a system of fines for violators and even forced abortions.
For years, authorities said that it was a key contributor to China’s economic boom and had prevented 400 million births.
Rural families were allowed two children if the first was a girl, while ethnic minorities were allowed an extra offspring, leading some to dub it a “one-and-a-half-child” policy.
However, it also led to heart-rending tales of loss for would-be parents, and prompted sex-selective abortions or infanticide targeting girls because of a centuries-old social preference for boys.
China’s population — the world’s largest at 1.37 billion — is now ageing rapidly and has severe gender imbalances, all while the country’s workforce is shrinking.
Under the new law, married couples are now allowed to have a second child, but the legislation maintains limits on additional births.
About 3 million extra babies will be born each year over the next five years as a result, officials from the Chinese National Health and Family Planning Commission said at a briefing in November.
This would add a total of about 30 million people to the labor force by 2050, officials said.
Still, experts say the shift is likely too little, too late to address China’s looming population crisis.
Others have warned that many Chinese couples do not want more children, particularly given the expense, and the effects of the change remain unclear.
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