BEIJING: China is considering further changes to its family planning laws, Premier Li Keqiang said on Sunday, after a relaxation in the “one child policy” failed to see significantly more babies being born.

The ruling Communist Party imposed strict rules in the late 1970s to limit population growth, with most urban couples restricted to a single offspring.

The often brutally enfor­ced policy has been hugely controversial, but officials say it has been a key factor in China’s rising prosperity. Now, though, it is leading to demographic problems inclu­ding a rapidly ageing population and a shrinking labour force. A relaxation in the regulations in late 2013, allowing couples to have two offspring if at least one parent was an only child, failed to see a marked increase in births.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2015

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