China easing birth limits further to cope with ageing society

This file photo taken on May 11, 2021 shows a mother and her baby playing on a slide at Wukesong shopping district in Beijing. Photo: AFP

China's ruling Communist Party will ease birth limits to allow all couples to have three children instead of two in response to the population's rising age, a state news agency said Monday.

The announcement follows census data that showed China's working-age population shrank over the past decade while the number of people older than 65 rose, adding to strain on the economy and society.

The ruling party has enforce birth limits since 1980 to restrain population growth but worries the number of working-age people is falling too fast.

Also read: NASA pulls up China as its rocket debris lands in sea

A meeting Monday of the ruling party's Politburo decided "China will introduce major policies and measures to actively deal with the ageing population," the Xinhua News Agency said.

Party leaders "pointed out that further optimizing the fertility policy, implementing the policy of one couple can have three children and supporting measures are conducive to improving China's population structure," the report said.

Restrictions that limited most couples to one child were eased in 2015 to allow all to have two. But after a brief rise the following year, the number of births has declined.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever