China will now allow couples to have a third child as it seeks to cap an aging population, the Associated Press reports. The country’s legislature amended its law dictating the terms of child planning, the second amendment in six years since the law was passed in the 1980s. The 2015 amendment that permitted two children per family saw a slight growth in births, though that eventually tapered off. The goal is to prevent the population from becoming too old before the country can reach economic prosperity. As part of the amendment, the country will also provide childcare resources and concessions on parental leave, taxes, schooling, and housing “to ease the burden on families.”
The county’s population grew to 1.411 billion last year, an increase of 72 million since 2010. The change makes the country more competitive with countries like Japan and Germany, which also struggle with aging populations but have technology and foreign investments to offset some of the impact.
