China is to relax its policy of restricting most couples to having
China is to relax its policy of restricting most couples to having only a single child, state media say.
In future, families will be allowed two children if one parent is an only child, the Xinhua news agency said.
The proposal follows this week’s meeting of a key decision-making body of the governing Communist Party.
Other reforms include the abolition of “re-education through labor” camps and moves to boost the role of the private sector in the economy.
China introduced its one-child policy at the end of the 1970s to curb rapid population growth.
But correspondents say the policy has become increasingly unpopular and that leaders fear the country’s aging population will both reduce the labor pool and exacerbate elderly care issues.
By 2050, more than a quarter of the population will be over 65.
In the countryside, families are allowed to have two children if the first is a girl.