In a historic decision on Sunday, Chinese lawmakers legislated that all couples in China will now be allowed to have two children.

The new legislation was approved during a National People's Congress Standing Committee session and will be effective beginning Jan. 1, 2016, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

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According to the newly revised Law on Population and Family Planning, “[t]he state advocates that one couple shall be allowed to have two children." This effectively replaces an earlier eased policy that allowed couples in China to have only one child.

The universal two-child policy was first announced in October, and is viewed as part of the solution to China's aging population problems.

"To promote a balanced growth of population, China will continue to uphold the basic national policy of population control and improve its strategy on population development,” the Communist Party of China said in a statement.

The Party added that the new policy that allows all Chinese couples to have two children will be fully implemented as a key response to the problems brought about by the aging population.

Earlier it was reported that China's working age population is expected to fall by a huge 10 percent by the year 2040, which translates to the loss of about 90 million workers.

Experts say that the decision to loosen the one-child policy came quite late, adding that although more babies will be born in China now, it will take decades before these newborn kids join the workforce.

The aging population is also expected to add more problems to the elderly health care sector, as well as social services.

Fudan University professor Wang Feng said that the looming crisis brought about by China's population change has already been felt. Wang also added that the earlier one-child policy is one of the most evident mistakes that the nation has made in history.

TagsChina 2 Child Policy, china population, Communist Party of China (CPC)