Now, China will allow married couples to legally have a third child, under the concern that declining numbers of people of working age will threaten future global prosperity and influence.
The ceremonial legislature on Friday updated the Population and Family Planning Act to address the consequences of falling birth rates.
China has tried for decades to control the population, starting with a policy imposed in 1979 that strictly limited couples to one child.
Couples who did not follow the rule faced fines or job losses, and in some cases mothers were forced to have abortions.
The preference for children also led parents to kill girls, causing a massive imbalance in the sex ratio.
Meanwhile, the number of people of working age has decreased over the last decade and the population has barely grown, which favors the tension of an aging society.
Chinese over the age of 60 accounted for 18.7% of the country’s total population in 2020, 5.44 percentage points more than in 2010. Meanwhile, the country’s working-age population fell to 63.3% from 70.1% from the previous decade.
With growing fears that the country will age before it gets rich, family planning rules were first changed in 2015 to allow for two children.
With publishing cables