China may change one-child policy

China may consider changing its one-child policy because it has succeeded in helping to slow population growth in the past three decades.

The policy, launched in the 1970s, has produced “very good results,” said Wu Jianmin, spokesman for the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to parliament.

There would be an estimated 400 million more people in China without it, Mr Wu said.

“The one-child policy was the only choice we had given the conditions when we initiated the policy,” Mr Wu said yesterday, the day before the CPPCC convened for its annual session.

However, he added, “when designing a policy we need to take into consideration the reality”.

“So as things develop, there might be some changes to the policy and relevant departments are considering this,” Mr Wu said.

Under the current mandate, Beijing limits most urban couples to one child and rural couples to two to conserve scarce resources.

Critics say the policy has led to forced abortions, sterilisations and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio due to a traditional preference for male heirs that has prompted countless families to abort female foetuses.

There are also concerns about China’s ageing population, with those aged 60 or older expected to top 200 million by 2015 and 280 million by 2025.