OREANDA-NEWS. The Chinese authorities decided to relax the policy of birth control, which is currently guided by the principle of «one family — no more than two children». This was reported on Monday, May 31, by the Chinese state news agency «Xinhua» with reference to the meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, held under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to «Xinhua», married Chinese couples are allowed to have up to three children. The decision was based on the results of the population census held in 2020, which revealed a strong decline in the birth rate. In this regard, the authorities considered it necessary to take measures to «further optimize the birth rate policy» and, in particular, to combat the aging of the population, the agency says.

The birth control campaign was launched in China in 1979. It's goal was to limit the number of inhabitants. In 2013, it was allowed to give birth to a second child to couples in which one of the spouses was the only child in their family, representatives of some ethnic minorities, as well as rural residents of a number of provinces, if the first baby was a girl.

In October 2015, the Chinese authorities decided to abandon the policy of limiting the birth rate on the principle of «one family — one child» and allow families to have two children.

Chinese scientists insist on the need to slow down the rapid aging of the country's population and stop the decline in the number of able-bodied citizens. At the end of 2020, the population of China was 1.4 billion people.