The government in China plans to end its one-child per family policy and instead let families have two children.
中国政府计划停止其独生子女政策，允许每个家庭生育两个孩子。
The plan was announced Thursday after high-level political meetings in Beijing. The official Xinhua news agency says the country's top legislature must approve the proposal before it becomes law.
该计划于周四在北京高级政治会议上宣布。中国官方媒体新华社报道称，在它成为法律之前必须得到该国最高立法机关的批准。
A Chinese Communist Party statement gave a number of reasons for the change in policy. The statement said the change is meant to balance population development. It said the move also attempts to stop a declining birth rate and strengthen the country's work force.
中国共产党发表的一份声明给出了政策变化的几点原因。该声明表示，此举是为了平衡人口发展，以及试图阻止出生率下降和加强该国的劳动力。
China - the world's most populous country - launched the one-child policy in 1980. But the government permitted only a small number of couples to have two children. For example, some rural families were given approval to have two children.
中国这个全球人口最多的国家于1980年开始实施独生子女政策。但是政府允许少数家庭生育两个孩子。例如，一些农村家庭被批准生育两个孩子。
A total of 19 rural provinces have a partial two-child policy. That policy states if the first-born is a girl, a second child is permitted.
共有19个农业省份存在部分二孩政策。该政策规定，如果生育的第一个孩子是女孩，则允许生育第二个孩子。
In 2013, the Chinese government gave other couples a chance to have two children. Families could have two if one parent was an only child.
在2013年，中国政府给予另一些夫妻生育两个孩子的机会。如果父母一方是独生子女，则这个家庭可以生育两个孩子。
A teacher and population expert, Jiang Quanbao, explained how Chinese families will react to the policy.
教师和人口专家姜全保解释了中国家庭会如何对该政策做出反应。
"Too many young people in the cities are probably no longer interested in having a second child," he said. "People in rural farming villages may be more interested. But again, some of them are already allowed to have two children."
他说，“城市里很多年轻人可能不再有生育第二个孩子的兴趣，农村人可能更感兴趣。但是同样，他们中的一些人已经被允许生育第二个孩子。”
At the end of 2014, China had a population of 1.37 billion people. A total of 800 million of them are employed. But that job market population is expected to drop by 2050. With the two-child policy, an increase in births will ease the labor shortage, starting in 20 years.
2014年年底，中国拥有13.7亿人口，其中有8亿人就业。但是预计到2050年就业市场的人口会有所下降。通过二孩政策提高生育将能缓解20年内开始的用工荒。
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