China Allows Couples To Have Three Children

• The census, released earlier this month, showed that around 12 million babies were born last year – a significant decrease from the 18 million in 2016…

China has announced that it will allow couples to have up to three children, after census data showed a steep decline in birth rates.

China scrapped its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, replacing it with a two-child limit which has failed to lead to a sustained upsurge in births.

The cost of raising children in cities has deterred many Chinese couples.

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The latest move was approved by President Xi Jinping in a politburo meeting, state media said.

It 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.

The census, released earlier this month, showed that around 12 million babies were born last year – a significant decrease from the 18 million in 2016, and the lowest number of births recorded since the 1960s.

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The census was conducted in late 2020 where some seven million census takers had gone door-to-door to collect information from Chinese households.