Beijing: In a historical decision, China has announced an end to its hugely controversial one-child policy, with the official Xinhua news agency saying that families will now be allowed to have two children. Citing a communique issued by the ruling Communist Party, after a four-day meeting in Beijing to chart the course of the country's economy over the next five years, it reported, China is “abandoning its decades-long one-child policy.” The policy restricted couples to only a single offspring, and for years authorities argued it was a key contributor to China's economic boom.
However, the Chinese population is now ageing rapidly, gender imbalances are severe and its workforce is also shrinking. The Communist party met to discuss ways to put the country's shaking economy back on track, as it struggles with structural inefficiencies and social policies left over from an era before it embraced market reforms. Known as the fifth plenum, the group discussed the next Five Year Plan for China, the 13th, since the People's Republic was founded in 1949. In the four days, the 205 members of the Central Committee, along with 170 alternates, looked into the specifics of the plan, which was largely worked out through a process of national consultations before the leaders even set foot in the capital.
The growth has slowed down for several years, and analysts say the party needs to embrace further liberalisation to avoid falling into the stagnation of the “middle income trap”. The meeting reiterated the party's goal to double 2010 GDP by 2020, as part of its aim to achieve a 'moderately prosperous society' by the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party.
