China Now Allowing Families To Have Three Children Instead Of Two

China will ease birth limits to combat the average age increase of its population.

China’s ruling Communist Party, which has enforced birth limits since 1980, will now allow couples to have three children instead of two. The change responds to the number of working-age citizens 15 to 59, falling to 63.3% last year from 70.1% ten years prior. The group aged 65 and older rose to 13.5% last year from 8.9% a decade earlier.

“China will introduce major policies and measures to actively deal with the aging population,” said the Xinhua News Agency.

China’s 1.4 billion population was anticipated to climax later this decade and begin to decline. However, according to Census data released May 11th, that is occurring quicker than predicted. As a result, underfunded pension and health systems are strained. The decrease in young people also impacts the number of future workers available to assist the growing retiree group.

The one-child restrictions were eased in 2015, allowing couples to have two children. The following year brought about a brief rise in births before they declined again. Couples attribute the lack of childbirth to the high cost of having children in China and the need to look after their own parents and disruption to jobs.