About 2 mln Chinese couples apply to have second child

BEIJING -- About two million Chinese couples had applied to have a second child by the end of 2015, the family planning authority said Thursday.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission on Thursday issued a bulletin saying that 89.2 percent of the migrant population have access to free family planning.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, eased the one child policy at the end of 2013, by allowing a second child for parents, if one of them is an only child.

A new legislation at the end of 2015 completely abandoned the decades long one child policy, allowing all Chinese couples to have a second child.

The government spent 11.2 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) last year on the support of rual households exercizing family planning, up by 1.46 billion yuan from 2014 and benefiting over nine million individuals, the commission said.