Family Planning
Family planning (计划生育) is China's population control policy which promotes late marriage and late childbearing, having fewer but healthier babies, especially one child per couple.
A flexible practice is adopted for rural people and ethnic minorities. In rural areas, couples may have a second baby in exceptional cases, but must have an interval of years between the first and the second child.
In areas inhabited by minority peoples, each community may work out its own regulations in accordance with its wishes, population, natural resources, economy, culture and customs.
In general, couples may have a second baby, or a third in some places. As for ethnic minorities with extremely small populations, couples may have as many children as they wish.
Beginning in 1978, it has been one of China's basic state policies, combining government guidance with voluntary compliance of citizens.
The central and local governments have instituted policies and regulations for controlling population growth, improving population quality and structure, as well as macro plans on population development.
Governments provide consultation, guidance and technical services concerning reproductive care, contraception, healthy birth and positive childrearing.
Couples of child-bearing age, guided by relevant state policies and regulations, can make arrangements for pregnancy and birth in an appropriate and responsible manner and choose appropriate contraceptive methods, taking their age, health, employment and financial situations into consideration.
Birth rates declined from 33.4 percent in 1970, to 12.1 percent in 2012. Meanwhile, the population growth rate dropped from 25.8 percent to 4.95 percent. The latter registered only half of the average growth in the world.
China has since 2011 adopted a comprehensive policy with which parents who come from sing-child family can have two children.
On November 15, 2013, the Communist Party of China Central Committee issued the Decision, which clearly states that couples nationwide can have a second child if either parent is an only child.
On October 29, 2015, the CPC Central Committee announced the scrapping of the current one-child policy in a proposal in order to balance population growth and offset the burden of an aging population. Since then, about 1.45 million Chinese couples, or 13 percent of those eligible, have submitted applications for a second child as of the end of May, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
