China Moves from 2-Child to 3-Child Policy
Posted on 05/31/2021
Couples in China can now have three children. Communist China has one of the most aggressive family planning policies in the developed world and faces the long-term prospects of a rapidly-aging population, similar to its peers in Japan and South Korea. In a meeting presided over by China President Xi Jinping on May 31, 2021, the Communist Party’s Politburo made the move to change the current two-child restriction, saying “allowing every couple to have three children and implementing related support policies will help improve the population’s structure,” according to a report by the official Xinhua News Agency.
The meeting discussed major policy measures to be implemented in the period to 2025.
China has been gradually reforming its tight birth policy that for decades limited most families to only having a single child. Having a second child was allowed since 2016. As China grew in wealth, the child addition policy did little to reverse the declining birthrate.
China currently has a population of 1.41 billion people. 12 million new babies born in 2020 in China, the lowest number since 1961.
SOUTH ASIA
India has a population of 1.339 billion and Pakistan has a population of 238.1 million. Bangladesh has a population of 164.1 million.
The U.S. has a population of 332.4 million.