Third child. Photo:VCG

China's statistics authority announced on Wednesday that the third-child policy will be beneficial for alleviating the low fertility level in the country, improve the age structure and promote the long-term balanced development of the population.

The response came after questions over whether the new policy would work, since China announced it would further lift its family planning policy to allow each couple to have up to three children on May 31. 

With the number of the country's newborns declining for four consecutive years, the policy shift is believed to be a significant step leading to more policy changes in improving China's demographic structure and actively responding to the aging trend, and is not simply a birth stimulation plan.

Fu Linghui, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, said at Wednesday's press conference that China's seventh national census shows that the country's population is getting older and the birth rate is falling. 

The aging problem is the general trend of the world population development, and will also be the basic national condition for China for a long time in the future, Fu said. 

Allowing each couple to have three children will help alleviate the low fertility level in the long run, improve the age structure of the population and promote the long-term balanced development of the population, Fu said. 

Global Times