BEIJING — China is eliminating a trio of agencies responsible for enforcing family planning policies in a further sign the government may be planning to scrap long-standing limits on the number of children its citizens can have. However, that appeared to have been a one-time increase, with 17.2 million births in the country last year, down from 17.9 million in 2016. China currently has the world’s largest population at 1.4 billion, which is expected to peak at 1.45 billion in 2029. While authorities credit the one-child policy with preventing 400 million extra births, many demographers argue that the fertility rate would have fallen anyway as China’s economy developed and education levels rose. China is predicted to have around 30 million more men than women by the end of the decade.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 11, 2018 06:33 UTC