East China's Anhui Province became the third province to relax the one-child policy on Thursday, allowing couples to have a second baby if either parent is an only child.

About one week earlier, neighboring Zhejiang Province took the lead in the country to relax the strict family planning rules. Jiangxi Province followed suit on January 18.

Provincial-level governments in Beijing, Guangxi, Hubei and Jiangsu have already announced their intentions to relax the policy in March. Others, including Hunan, Qinghai and Shanghai, promised changes in the first half of this year.

Xinhua