China passed a law amendment that allows each couple to have three children at a session of the National People’s Congress on Friday.
The policy is adopted to prevent the steep decline in birth rates and offers social and economic support to couples having more children.
China introduced the law amendment in May in a major policy shift to allow couples to have up to three children along with several resolutions aimed at increasing the birth rate and reducing the burden of raising a child.
The new law will cancel the social maintenance fee, the financial penalty at couples for having children beyond the limit. It will also encourage the local governments to offer parental leave, increasing women’s employment rights; and improving childcare infrastructure, BBC reported. The new law stipulates that the country will take supportive measures, including those in finances, taxes, insurance, education, housing, and employment, to reduce families’ burdens as well as the cost of raising and educating children, state-run China Daily reported.
The decision comes as the latest census data of the country had shown a steep decline in the birth rate.
In 2016, China had scrapped its one-child policy to replace it with a two-child limit to increase the birth rate, but this failed to lead to a sustained upsurge in births.
