China ditches one-child policy – and launches two-child policy

Move has been implemented to tackle China's aging population

The move to a two-child policy has been long anticipated in China (EPA)

China has abandoned its controversial one-child policy and will now allow couples to have two children from January 1st 2016.

The state run Xinhua news agency reported that the Law on Population and Family Planning will now read that “the state advocates that one couple shall be allowed to have two children.”

It was passed on Sunday as bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

The move has been anticipated. It follows an announcement by senior government officials in October in favour of a two-child policy. At the time, they said: ”To promote a balanced growth of population, China will continue to uphold the basic national policy of population control and improve its strategy on population development.

“China will fully implement the policy of 'one couple, two children' in a proactive response to the issue of an aging population.”

China’s aging population has been an ongoing concern. In 2014, there were 212 million people aged over 60 years old in China, accounting for 15.5 per cent of the total population.

It is also thought that a two-child policy could be a boon to China’s economy, which slowed down this year. China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission said in November that the two child policy could reduce the country’s dependency ratio and increase the economic growth rate by 0.5 per cent.

The two child policy was officially relaxed in 2013, with couples allowed two children if one of the parents was an only child.

The one child policy was implemented in China between 1978 and 1980, following concerns about a rapidly growing population.