Chongqing implements two-child policy

A new family planning policy that allows couples in which either spouse is an only child to have two children has been implemented in Chongqing municipality, an official said on Wednesday in Chongqing.

Wang Wei, a spokesman for the Chongqing Health and Family Planning Commission, said during a news conference that Chongqing has just completed the approval process of the two-child policy and, from now on, couples with one spouse who is an only child will be permitted to have two children.

Wang added that wives below the age of 28 from couples that apply for a second child, have to wait for three years after the birth of the couple's first child.

"A population of nearly 45,000 will be added to Chongqing each year," Wang said during the conference, "and faced with the population changes the two-child policy may bring, we have made corresponding measures to cope with possible problems in terms of healthcare, education, retirement and so on."