BEIJING: China faces a looming baby boom as newly-rich couples find they can afford to pay fines incurred from having more than one child, state media reported on Monday.

Upward pressure on the birthrate also is coming from millions of Chinese in their 20s and 30s who are allowed two children under the policy because they themselves were single children, Xinhua news agency quoted China’s top family planning official as saying.

China adopted its one-child policy in 1979 to curb population growth. It encourages late marriages and late childbearing and limits most urban couples to one child and most rural couples to two.

The government claims the policy has led to 400 million fewer births in a nation of 1.3 billion people, but it is controversial. Many families want to keep having children until a male heir is born.

National Population and Family Planning Commission director Zhang Weiqing said the number of rich people having more than one child is rapidly rising, citing a recent survey by his organisation.

He also said early marriages are on the rise again in many rural parts of the country, Xinhua reported.—AFP