Chinese Legislature Approves Amendments on Third Child Policy, Support Measures, Reports Say

BEIJING (Sputnik) - The Chinese National People's Congress (NPC) on Friday voted to approve amendments to the Population and Family Planning Law allowing couples to have a third child, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The draft amendment was submitted on Tuesday to the session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee for review. The law provides that each Chinese couple will be allowed to have three children. It also proposes a slew of supportive measures for parents in terms of taxation, insurance, education, housing and employment.

In July, the Chinese State Council announced that it had decided to lift all restrictions on the birth of a third child, including fines for the policy violation. The changes are expected to result in a "stable long-term population development" and more balanced population structure by 2035.

The 2020 Chinese population census estimated the median age at 38.8 years. The country has registered a growing share of people aged over 60 years against a decreasing birthrate.

The gender balance of the Chinese population was seriously affected by the "one-child" policy, introduced in 1979 in order to prevent overpopulation and famine. Under this policy, urban families had a right to have only one child, while rural families could have two children, but only if the first one was a girl. The government cancelled the policy in 2015, permitting all families to have two children, but the share of Chinese men still outnumbers women 105 to 100.