China is considering altering its "one-child policy" and gradually raising limits on the number of children a couple can have, the Financial Times reported, citing comments from a senior official from the National Population and Family Planning Commission. Zhao Baige, family planning vice minister, said policy makers wanted to raise the birth limit "incrementally" and that studies on the matter would be required. The policy is said to have prevented 400 million births since its implementation in the late 1970s. It has also led to a fall in the proportion of working age Chinese. One in five Chinese citizens will be over 60 by 2030, more than double the current proportion. Currently 30-40% of Chinese are allowed to have two or more children – including urban dwellers who are themselves only children and rural inhabitants whose first child is a girl.