China, in Major Policy Shift, Announces Families Can Have Three Children

BEIJING - China announced on Monday 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. 

The change was approved during a politburo meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping, the official news agency Xinhua reported.  In 2016, China scrapped its decades-old one-child policy - initially imposed to halt a population explosion - with a two-child limit, which failed to result in a sustained surge in births as the high cost of raising children in Chinese cities deterred many couples from starting families.  "To further optimize the birth policy, (China) will implement a one-married-couple-can-have-three-children policy," Xinhua said in a report on the meeting.