| Summary: | The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016─2020), with the balanced development of
population being the core element, is crucial for China. The superimposed
effect of an aging population and low birthrate leading to a reduction in
the labor supply would have a fundamental influence on the long term
balanced development of China’s population, implying that China’s
population policy must be adjusted. This paper argues that a gradual
relaxation of the family-planning policy adjustments accords with the
original intention of the population policy design and development
direction. The universal second-child policy is the logical results of the
adjustment and improvement of China’s family-planning policy, and
is designed to bring about positive effects on future demographic and
economic development, particularly in sustaining the long term balanced
development of China’s population, easing the marriage squeeze,
extending the demographic dividend, and delaying the population aging
process. China needs to develop and improve support and governance
systems for fully implementing the universal second-child policy, realizing
the policy transition from rewarding one-child families to population
security and the modern transition of governance systems and capacity to a
universal second-child policy
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