This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Paul James in Beijing. Here is the news.
The suggested relaxation of the family planning policy is expected to bring China roughly 13 million more babies in five or six years.?
China decided to relax the rules by allowing couples to have a second child if one of the parents is an only child. Previously, a husband and wife were both required to be single children if they wanted a second child.
If China continues the old policy, the birth rate would continue falling and lead to a sharp drop of the population after reaching a peak. That was the remarks by Li Bin, minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
The country's working population began to drop in 2012 by almost 3.5 million annually, and it is likely to fall by 8 million annually after 2023.
Those aged 60 and above will reach 400 million and account for one-fourth of the population in the early 2030s, up from one-seventh now.
The official says it is the right time to do it as the low birth rate is stable, the working population is still large and the burden to support the elderly is relatively light.
The change would lead to a mini baby boom lasting five or six years with an additional 2 million births a year on average.
Zhai Zhenwu is among a few experts entrusted by the commission to assess the largest possible population growth arising from the policy change.
He says the new rules are expected to make 15 to 20 million Chinese couples eligible to have a second child.
Usually, younger women and those in the rural areas tend to want more babies.?
A survey Zhai conducted a year ago found more than 60 percent of newly eligible families were willing to have a second baby.
China's family planning commission says the change may be implemented early 2014 after local legislatures pass the amended regulation.
