CRI听力:New Family Planning Policy to Benefit China's Overall Growth: Official

On Thursday, the Communist Party of China announced a plan to abolish the decades-long One-Child Policy, allowing all couples to have two children. The announcement came amid increasing concerns over China's rapidly aging population and shrinking work force in recent years.

Li Bin, Director of China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, says the change in policies will facilitate China's overall growth in the long run.

"The new policy will improve the demographic structure of China, increase labor supply, ease pressure brought by an aging society, facilitate the healthy growth of China's population, and further contribute to the sustainable development of the economy."

According to official data, China had a population of 1.3 billion at the end of 2014, while 15 percent of them were above the age of 60 and 10 percent over the age of 65. China's labor force peaked at 940 million in 2012, dropping to 930 million by 2014. The figure is expected to decrease by another 29 million by 2020. The new plan announced on Thursday is expected to slow that decline in the long run.

Li Bin says the government will next work on updating current policies and regulations to implement the new plan.

"We will ratify and improve our policies and regulations, to focus on reproductive health, and strengthen services on women's health and childcare. We will also simplify policies to better serve those affected by the new plan, especially those families who may have special needs in terms of family planning. "

A final layout of the new policy is expected to be ratified by China's top legislature next March.

The new policy is expected to benefit around 100 million families across China.

In Beijing, a just married 27-year-old woman surnamed Wang expressed her delight after Thursday's announcement.

"My husband and I want to have two children because we were both raised in two-child families, and we enjoyed it. We knew that the one-child policy would be abandoned at some point, but we never thought it would come so soon. It's come in time for us!"

Some factors, however, could limit the new policy's short-term outcomes. Yuan Xin, a professor with Tianjin's Nankai University, says people born in the 1970's may be more enthusiastic about having a second child, while those born in the last three decades have no urgent desire to do so. Some have cited the high costs of child-rearing as a challenge for many young couples.

China launched the One-Child Policy in the 1970's to curb the surging population. The policy has reduced China's population growth by about 400 million since then. The policy was later relaxed to allow two children for couples who were both only children.

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee ruled in November 2013 that couples are allowed to have two children if one of them is an only child.

For CRI, I'm Victor Ning.