Story highlights The number of babies born rose 7.9% year over year

2016 was the first year of China's new two-child policy

(CNN) The number of babies born in China in 2016 jumped 7.9% from the previous year, according to government figures, a jump attributable to China's shift to a two-child policy.

A total of 17.86 million babies were born in 2016, an increase of 1.31 million over the total in 2015. The new total represents the highest annual number of newborns since 2000, according to government data

China's decision to allow all Chinese couples to have two children was a "major factor" in the increase, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC).

"It demonstrates that the universal second-child policy came in time and worked effectively," said Yang Wenzhuang, a division director of the NHFPC.

The birth increase comes more than a year after China decided to abandon its decades-old policy limiting parents to just one child.

Read More