China is to bring an end to its controversial one child policy, which has been in place for more than three decades.
President Xi Jinping from China’s ruling Communist Party has announced plans to lift the policy in order to manage the economy’s shift to slower, more balanced growth.
The party’s Central Committee approved plans to allow all couples in China to have two children, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.
The new policy was announced at the end of a four-day Communist Party gathering in the Chinese capital Beijing.
The controversial policy was introduced in 1979, and applied to all couples across China.
It was intended to reduce the country's birth rate and slow the population growth rate, but the policy led to concerns over China's ageing population.
The policy has also resulted in forced sterilisations, abortions, infanticide, and abandonmnent of female babies leading to a dramatic gender imbalance that means millions of Chinese men will never find female partners.
