China Abandons Three-Decade-Old One-Child Policy

Newsmax reports:

China announced the end of its hugely controversial one-child policy on Thursday, with the official Xinhua news agency saying that all couples would be allowed two children.

It cited a communique issued by the ruling Communist Party after a four-day meeting in Beijing to chart the course of the world's second-largest economy over the next five years.

China is "abandoning its decades-long one-child policy", Xinhua reported.

The policy restricted most couples to only a single offspring, and for years authorities argued that it was a key contributor to China's economic boom.

But after years of strict, sometimes brutal enforcement by a dedicated government commission, China's population -- the world's largest -- is now ageing rapidly, gender imbalances are severe, and its workforce is shrinking.

China adopts a laissez-faire attitude on reproductive rights.