China allowed all couples to have two children in 2016, ending the country's decades-long one-child policy, which authorities blame for the country's demographic catastrophe.
China's national legislature formally adopted the governing Communist Party's three-child policy on Friday, a major policy move to prevent a sharp fall in birth rates in the world's most populous country. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress approved the amended Population and Family Planning Law, which enables Chinese couples to have three children (NPC). The revised law has also enacted more social and economic assistance measures to address Chinese couples who are hesitant to have more children due to rising expenditures.
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According to the state-run China Daily, the new legislation states that the nation would adopt supporting measures, such as those in finance, taxes, insurance, education, housing, and employment, to lessen the responsibilities on families as well as the expense of raising and educating children.
According to the article, the NPC changed the legislation to execute the central leadership's determination to deal with changing social and economic development conditions and promote balanced long-term population growth.
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The ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) authorised a modification of its stringent two-child policy in May of this year, allowing all couples to have up to three children.
China allowed all couples to have two children in 2016, ending the country's decades-long one-child policy, which authorities blame for the country's demographic catastrophe. Chinese officials say that the one-child policy, which has been in place for more than three decades, has averted nearly 400 million births.
The decision to allow the third child came after this month's once-in-a-decade census revealed that China's population expanded at the slowest rate in decades, reaching 1.412 billion, despite official forecasts that the fall might begin as early as next year.