China to end decades-old 1-child policy, allow 2 children

BEIJING -- China said Thursday it would allow all married couples to have two children, signaling the end after 35 years to its drastic and unpopular "one-child" policy that has been blamed for skewing the gender balance, forcing women into unwanted abortions and bringing about a rapidly aging workforce.

The decision was the most significant easing of strict population policies that long were considered some of the ruling Communist Party's most onerous intrusions into family life and had been relaxed gradually in recent years. Many rural families and some urban ones already were able to have two children.

The news elated 36-year-old Su Weihua of Guangzhou, who said she plans to get pregnant next year and is eager for her 8-year-old daughter to have a sibling.

"I have looked forward to this for so many years -- even had dreams about it! I cried every time when I woke up and realized it wasn't yet true. I thought it was so unfair," Su said. "I do not care if the second child is a boy or a girl, at my age, as long as he or she is healthy."

The party's Central Committee said in a statement the decision was "to improve the balanced development of population" and deal with an aging population. The official Xinhua News Agency said the proposal must be approved by the top legislature before it is enacted, which is essentially a formality. It gave no indication of when that would happen.

The move may not spur a huge baby boom, however, in part because fertility rates are believed to be declining even without the policy's enforcement.

Previous easings of the one-child policy have spurred fewer births than expected, and many people among China's younger generations see smaller families as ideal.

Demographers worry the change will not be in time to reverse the declining fertility rate.

"The good news is, it is here. The bad news is, it is too little, too late," said Cai Yong, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

China, which has the world's largest population at 1.4 billion people, introduced the one-child policy in 1979 as a temporary measure to curb a then-surging population and limit demand for water and other resources. Soon after it was implemented, rural couples were allowed two children if their firstborn was a girl. Ethnic minorities also are allowed more than one child.

Chinese families with a strong preference for boys sometimes have resorted to aborting female fetuses, a practice that has upset the ratio of male to female babies. China has rates of up to 115 boys per 100 girls at birth, compared with what are considered normal rates at birth of about 107 boys to 100 girls.

The imbalance makes it difficult for some men to find wives and is believed to fuel the trafficking of women as brides.