China abandons one-child policy, allows two kids for all couples

China will allow all couples to have two children, abandoning its decades-long one-child policy, the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced after a key meeting on Thursday.

Population of China to shrink to 1 billion by 2100 (UN report)

China's population will drop by around 350 million by 2100, according to a UN report that comes amid the government's ongoing efforts to implement a two-child policy.

Second children coming

Over 800,000 couples applied to have a second child by the end of September, announced the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) on Thursday.

Nearly 20,000 Beijing couples granted permit for second child. (At the end of last year, China relaxed the decades-old one-child policy)

Nearly 20,000 Beijing couples have been granted a permit to have a second child since the city relaxed its family planning policy in February, according to the latest official statistics.

As of the end of August, of all the 21,249 couples who filed birth applications, 19,363 have been given the permit, according to statistics released on Sunday by Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning.

Of all the granted applicants, around 56 percent are women aged between 31 to 35, according to the birth watchdog.

China Formalizes Labor Camp and One-Child Reforms

China's official news agency says the national legislature has voted to abolish the country's controversial re-education through labor camps and ease its decades-old one-child policy.

The Xinhua news agency reported Saturday that the moves by the rubber-stamp standing committee of the National People's Congress formalized decisions made in November by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Xinhua said, starting Saturday, all those in the labor camps would begin to be freed. However, the article stressed that all penalties imposed before the abolition of the system would remain valid, a prevision aimed at preventing the detainees from filing lawsuits.