A shift in China’s controversial two-child birth policy allows couples to have up to three children in a measure intended to improve the nation’s demographic structure.
The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee announced the decision at a May 31 meeting after May census results revealed failure of the current two-child policy to significantly raise declining birth rates.
According to the official Xinhua news agency, China’s National Health Commission expects the three-child policy to improve the age structure of the population and increase the labor force as part of a strategy to actively cope with China’s aging population.
In 2016, the two-child policy replaced the one-child limit established in the 1970s.
