China’s one-child policy is expected to be loosened next year, as
policy advisers come to grips with the implications of having one of
the world’s most rapidly ageing populations.
Chinese experts have said that five provinces are set to relax the
policy next year and this trial may spread nationwide by 2013 or 2014.
While no official announcement has been made, some family planning
experts expect a pilot policy will soon permit a second birth in
families where at least one spouse is an only child.
He Yafu, an independent demographic expert who has connections with
the Family Planning Commission was reported in The Vine as saying,
‘Next year they will relax the policy in Heilongjiang, Jilin,
Liaoning, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. In 2012 I expect it will be
extended to Shanghai, Beijing and other places and I am personally
optimistic that it will be extended to the whole country in 2013 or
2014.’