By IANS,
Beijing: In a major shift in policy, China, the world’s most populous nation, may allow couples to have a second child.
This will be permitted even if the couples’ parents have more than one child, softening its current norm of giving such permission to only those belonging to one-child generation.
“Couple should have the right to decide when to have their second child,” said Peng Yuhua, deputy head of the Beijing Population and Planning Commission.
Those entitled to conceive a second time will also no longer have to wait for four years after having the first child, China Daily reported Monday.
It quoted Beijing News as saying that couples who have remarried with no offspring or have lost their child or have one born with disabilities will also be allowed to have a second child.
About 60,000-70,000 babies are born in Beijing every year but the birth rate in the city has seen a negative growth tendency.
“According to natural law of stable human replacement, every woman should bear at least 2.1 children. The number now in China is levelled at 1.8, while in Beijing (it) comes down to 1 right now,” Peng said.