The top population authority of China stated that the country will be making changes to its family planning policy, which is 30 years old. A spokesperson for the National Health and Family Planning Commission said that any step taken must help in maintaining a low birth rate, in addition to satisfying individual families’ wish to have more children.
When it comes to any changes in the policy, the country’s social and economic development and demographic changes will be taken into consideration. At a regular press conference on November 11, 2013, Mao Qun’an said that revising the current policy has always been an important point on the commission’s agenda. The comments made by Mao came after speculations that the central government will consider relaxing the family planning policy following the Third Plenum of the Communist Party of 18th Central Committee of China, which opened in Beijing on November 9, 2013.
The spokesperson said, “We’ve conducted lots of investigations and research, focusing on population quantity, quality,structure and distribution to work out a guideline to fine-tune the family planning policy”. Mao also said that changes in the policy will be made in a well-coordinated manner and the current and future situation will be taken into consideration.
Yuan Xin, a professor in population studies said that a revision in the policy will not affect the long-term goal of achieving low population growth in the nation.
Photo Credits: SCMP
