China’s population will increase to about 1.42 billion by the end of 2020 as result of the new policy to allow second child (Representative photo/AP) China’s population will increase to about 1.42 billion by the end of 2020 as result of the new policy to allow second child (Representative photo/AP)

China’s population will increase to about 1.42 billion by the end of 2020 as result of the new policy to allow second child, according to the draft outline of a five-year plan released in Beijing on Saturday.

China had a population of 1.37462 billion by the end of 2015, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The country will further adhere to the family planning policy as a basic state policy, and fully carry out the two-child policy, said the draft outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) submitted to the national legislature the National People’s Congress for examination.

China has scrapped the over three and half decade old one-child policy and replaced it with two-child policy from this year as it saddled with increasing numbers of old age people whose numbers have already crossed over 200 million.

Imbalanced sex ratio, one of the highest among the world, will be addressed with comprehensive measures, the draft said.

Reproductive health care, and maternal and child health care will be improved, and related policies will be revised to adapt to the implementation of the two-child policy, it said.

Family planning service management, and birth registration service system will be improved, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the draft as saying.

Efforts addressing an aging population and the decrease of working age population will be carried out, it said.

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