After nearly 40 years, China is lifting its one-child policy and will now allow couples to have two children. The system was first implemented back in 1979 as a means of population control.
The plan to abandon the one-child policy came after a long meeting between members of China's ruling Communist Party.
As the Xinhua News Agency announced, all couples will now be able to have two children instead of just one, a move that should bode well for the country.
#BREAKING: China abandons one-child policy, allows two kids for all couples pic.twitter.com/FP8m7gsQgm
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) October 29, 2015
According to a report from the BBC, China has prevented over 400 million births since it implemented the one-child policy more than 35 years ago. However, things have been hitting a low point after China's ageing population has grown to a cause for concern.
Due to this, many have been calling for a change, and that change has now come.
We understand that many of China's population are hitting the age of retirement, and not many are entering the labor force due to the one-child policy. This should change in the next 20 years or less as no doubt couples are going to take full advantage of the new two-child policy.
China's one-child policy hasn't come without its own set of problems. In the past, couples have been punished for trying to break rules. Some were fined, while others were forced to have an abortion. Some couples even went as far as to hide their children from the government, but doing that usually turned out badly for the child because they found it difficult to get a proper education, jobs, and even healthcare.
Just earlier this month, a couple was fined $110,161 for having seven children, a clear breach of the one-child policy.
Some provinces in the past have eased on the rules, and for a while, China was considering to allow couples to have a second child if one of them turned out to be an only child.
Jonathan Kos-Read | Flickr
