It comes after China made a decision to partially ease its family planning restrictions two years ago, allowing couples at that time to have a second baby if one of the parents is an only child.
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China’s state-run news agency Xinhua released a vibrant, psychedelic-looking animated video this week to explain why the country’s blueprint for economic and social development matters to the world.
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That adds to rising concerns that China’s population may be aging more quickly than the Chinese government had predicted.
This is the first time China has done away with its one-child policy in over three long decades.
The world’s second-largest economy is riddled with structural inefficiencies and growth is at its slowest rate since the global financial crisis.
Critics said the relaxation of rules was too little, and too late to redress substantial negative effects of the one-child policy on the economy and society.
The Chinese have finally figured out that an at-birth sex ratio of 121.2 boys to 100 girls doesn’t bode well for the future.
The decision announced Thursday removes all remaining restrictions that limited a few couples to having only one child. Known as the fifth plenum, the conclave discussed the next Five-Year Plan for China – the 13th since the People’s Republic was founded in 1949. It’s about basic human rights.
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The controversial policy restricted most couples to only a single offspring, and for years authorities argued that it was a key contributor to China’s economic boom. Li said the country will lift most of the people now among the 70 million living in poverty out of that condition by 2020. China’s famous one-child policy may have worked too well, leading to rock-bottom fertility levels that will be hard to overcome. He said policy makers need to restructure the economy to avoid the middle-income trap and not purely emphasize speed.
