Commentary: A comprehensive set of policies to promote childbirth

BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- In a major optimization of its policy on population, China announced on Monday a policy allowing couples to have three children while enjoying a range of economic and social measures, to assist the long-term, balanced development of the nation's population.

Monday's move is another concrete step based on the positive results of recent population policy changes, including allowing every couple to have two children starting from 2016. It is conducive to improving China's population structure, implementing the national strategy of actively coping with population aging, and maintaining China's advantage in terms of human resources. It is also a reflection of Beijing's fact-based decision-making, based on the China's changing demographic situation, whereby the total population remains high but the aging of the population has deepened in recent years.

Also noteworthy is that Monday's announcement includes a slew of other measures intended to promote childbirth. It's not just a matter of changing the number of children from two to three, but of addressing the deep and wide-ranging social and economic factors that have deterred couples from having more children.

These include taking marriage, childbirth, parenting and education into consideration, guiding young people's values on marriage and family after they reach marrying age, and combating undesirable social customs that have stood as effective barriers to marriage due to the social or financial constraints they place on young people.

China will also improve the range of childbirth and childbearing services available, expand accessible childcare, increase the fairness and supply of quality education resources, and reduce the education-related expenses that families face.

Other incentives include improvements to the system for maternity leave and maternity insurance, supportive measures on taxation, housing and other areas, as well as enhanced protection of the legitimate rights and interests of women in employment.

In total, these represent a systematic set of tools aimed at enhancing the inclusiveness of population policy, promoting the integration of the population policy with economic and social policies, and reducing the burden of childbirth, parenting and education on families.

These are among the objectives that have been detailed in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and long-range objectives through 2035, adopted in the annual legislative session in March, showing the continuity and comprehensiveness of China's decision-making. The demographic policy changes in the world's most populous country will definitely have a worldwide impact.