THE TWO-CHILD POLICY

A nurse takes care of newborn babies in a hospital in Zhangjiakou， north Chinas Hebei Province.

China will now allow all couples to have two children， the latest relaxation of its decades-long familyplanning policy， the countrys ruling party announced on October 29 following a key meeting.

The change is intended to balance population development and address the challenge of an aging population， according to a communiqué issued after the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee.

A final plan will be ratified by Chinas top legislature.

Chinas family-planning policy was first introduced in the late 1970s to rein in its surging population by limiting most urban couples to one child and most rural couples to two children， if the first child born was a girl. While succeeding in curbing population growth， the strict policy has been blamed for a number of social problems， such as a decreasing labor force.

The policy was later relaxed to allow parents to have a second child if they were both only children. It was further eased in 2013 when a decision was made to allow couples to have two children if one of them is an only child.