China expects to see 1 million more newborns this year compared to the statistics in 2014 in the wake of the amendment of the country’s one-child policy.
According to records from the China Population Association (CPA) released Monday, there were a total of 16.9 million Chinese babies born last year, equal to 470,000 more than the recorded census in 2013.
A CPA analysis revealed that in the past, the population trend has consistently declined from more than 20 million in 1990 to as low as 15.8 million in 2006.
This year, however, is expected to see a bigger increase in the population as more births are expected despite the decrease in the number of Chinese women who are in their childbearing age.
This, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, is due to the policy change where "qualified" couples are now allowed to have a second child.
Piloted in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang in 2014, the implementation of the amended policy now has more than 1 million families all over the country in a rush to file their applications to be allowed to have a second child provided that at least one of the parents is an only child.
CPA head Zhai Zhenwu stated that as many families who opted to have a second child are in the preparation phase, the number of newborn babies is forecast to noticeably increase in 2015.
China's long-running one-child policy was introduced during the 1970s in order to control the surging population explosion in the country.
However, multiple problems emerged because of this policy, including issues on the declining number of the labor force and the extensive disproportion among genders.