Chinese couples will now be encouraged to have two children, according to a draft statement on China's national law on population and family planning proposed to the country's top legislature.

The initiative for the Two-Child Policy was announced by the China's top leadership at a meeting in October. For it to become a law, it has to be approved by the National People's Congress.

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The draft revision proposed by the State Council could be passed to the National People's Congress for review when the legislature closes its bi-monthly session on Sunday. 

According to the draft, couples who have two children can enjoy longer maternity leave. It also said couples could have more than two children if they can.

According to the proposal, the two-child policy would be effective on 1st of January next year.

The change in the country's family planning policy was made to solve the challenge of an aging population. It is also expected to become a new driver for the economy in the future.

The new policy is expected to increase economic growth rate by 0.5 percentage points through reducing China's dependency ratio, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said in November.

It is also expected that the new policy would add over 30 million more people to the labor force by 2050 and a decrease of 2 percentage points in the share of the elderly in China's population, said Deputy Head Wang Pei'an.

Tagstwo-child policy, Chinese Policy, china population, Chinese family, family planning