China has announced that it will allow each couple to have up to three children, marking the end of a strict two-child policy, the BBC reports.
The change was approved by President Xi Jinping in a politburo meeting, state media outlet Xinhua said.
It comes after a once-in-a-decade census showed that China’s population grew at its slowest pace in decades.
This added pressure on Beijing to boost measures for couples to have more babies and avert a population decline.
China’s census, released earlier this month, showed that around 12 million babies were born last year – a significant decrease from the 18 million in 2016, and the lowest number of births recorded since the 1960s.
