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China Says Couples Will Not Need Approval to Have 2 Children


FILE - A child is wrapped up against the cold at a park in Beijing, China, Oct. 30, 2015.
FILE - A child is wrapped up against the cold at a park in Beijing, China, Oct. 30, 2015.

China will not require prospective parents to obtain approval to have two children under the new "two-child policy", in what appears to be a further relaxation of reproductive controls in the world's most populous country.

A document released by the central government and ruling Communist Party on Tuesday said families would be able to "independently arrange childbearing" under the new policy, without applying for approval.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission had said in October that couples would still need approval at first.

The document released on Tuesday said implementation of the policy would begin this year, without giving a date.

The two-child policy is itself a relaxation of the "one-child policy" that led to forced abortions and infanticides for decades. Beijing hopes to reduce the pressure of an aging population.

About 90 million families may qualify for the new two-child policy. China, the world's most populous nation, had 1.37 billion people at the end of 2013.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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