Married Chinese couples may have up to three children, China announced on Monday, in a major shift from the existing limit of two after recent data showed a dramatic decline in births in the world's most populous country. "People are held back not by the two-children limit, but by the incredibly high costs of raising children in today's China. Housing, extracurricular activities, food, trips, and everything else add up quickly," Yifei Li, a sociologist at NYU Shanghai, told Reuters. "I am willing to have three children if you give me 5 million yuan ($785,650)," one user posted. "I'm super happy," said Su Meizhen, a human resources manager in Beijing, who is pregnant with her third child.

Source: The Star May 31, 2021 10:07 UTC