[by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51VOA.COM [00:00.12]The government in China plans to end its one-child per family policy [00:05.00]and instead let families have two children. [00:08.80]The plan was announced Thursday after high-level political meetings in Beijing. [00:15.00]The official Xinhua news agency [00:17.60]says the country's top legislature [00:20.24]must approve the proposal before it becomes law. [00:24.04]A Chinese Communist Party statement gave a number of reasons for the change in policy. [00:30.16]The statement said the change is meant to balance population development. [00:35.52]It said the move also attempts to stop a declining birth rate [00:40.00]and strengthen the country's work force. [00:43.68]China - the world's most populous country [00:46.88]- launched the one-child policy in 1980. [00:50.68]But the government permitted only a small number of couples to have two children. [00:56.76]For example, some rural families were given approval to have two children. [01:02.56]A total of 19 rural provinces have a partial two-child policy. [01:08.48]That policy states if the first-born is a girl, [01:12.52]a second child is permitted. [01:14.92]In 2013, the Chinese government gave other couples [01:19.20]a chance to have two children. [01:21.68]Families could have two if one parent was an only child. [01:27.24]A teacher and population expert, Jiang Quanbao, [01:31.16]explained how Chinese families will react to the policy. [01:36.12]"Too many young people in the cities are probably no longer interested [01:41.28]in having a second child," he said. [01:44.40]"People in rural farming villages may be more interested. [01:49.00]But again, some of them are already allowed to have two children." [01:54.28]At the end of 2014, [01:56.72]China had a population of 1.37 billion people. [02:01.68]A total of 800 million of them are employed. [02:05.76]But that job market population is expected to drop by 2050. [02:11.44]With the two-child policy, an increase in births [02:15.12]will ease the labor shortage, starting in 20 years. [02:19.26]I'm Anna Matteo.