China allows families to have 3 children in major policy shift

The world’s most populous nation relaxes family planning policy after census showed its population is rapidly ageing.

China has relaxed its family planning policy to allow couples to have three children after a census showed its population is rapidly ageing, state media reported, in a major policy shift to boost birthrate in the world’s most populous nation. For nearly 40 years, China enforced a controversial “one-child policy” – one of the strictest family planning regulations worldwide – which was relaxed in 2016 to a “two-child policy” due to widespread concerns about an ageing workforce and economic stagnation. Despite government efforts to encourage couples to have children, China’s annual births have continued to plummet to a record low of 12 million in 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics said last month.