The Chinese government ends its one-child policy (政策) and allows families to have three children. The policy is meant to balance population development, stop a falling birth rate (出生率) and strengthen the country's labor force (劳动力).
China, with the largest population in the world, started the one-child policy in 1980. But the government allowed only a small number of couples to have two children. For example, some families in the countryside could have two children, if the first-born child is a girl. In 2016, the Chinese government gave other couples a chance to have two children if one of them was an only child. Because of aging of population, in 2021, it allowed families to have three children.
To the newest policy, different families have different opinions. "Too many young people in the cities are no longer interested in having two or three children," an official said. "People in the countryside are more interested."
At the end of 2021, China had a population of more than 1.4 billion people. A total of 900 million of them have jobs. But the labor market population will drop in 30 years. That is to say, the country will be in great need of labor by the year 2050. With the three-child policy, an increase in births can solve this problem.
Boys and girls, what do you think of the three-child policy? Do you want to have new-born brothers or sisters?
