After loosening its "one child" birth limits, China is preparing to take on two million extra babies a year, health officials said Thursday.
According to the Associated Press, with more couples being allowed to have two children, the country already faces a shortage of maternity beds, said Wang Guoqing, a deputy minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
To curb population growth and demand for water and other resources, birth limits were introduced by the ruling Communist Party in 1980.
"Most urban couples are allowed one child and face fines and other penalties for additional births," the AP reported. "Pressure to enforce limits has led local officials to force women to abort fetuses or to be sterilized, even though such measures are illegal."
"The party announced in November that couples in which one parent was an only child would be allowed to have a second baby in some areas. Previously, both parents had to be an only child to qualify for this exemption."
More health facilities for woman and children have been requested by local authorities to be built, including maternity beds, said Zhang Shikun, an official with the commission in charge of women and children's health.
"China had 18.5 million births in 2013, according to the UN children's agency UNICEF," the AP reported. "The forecast increase would be the equivalent of about 11 percent of that."
"The figure of 2 million additional births is at the top end of forecasts by experts based on the less restrictive policy. Some say the figure might be lower due to the growing acceptance in China of smaller families."
The cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing, and the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui, Sichuan, Guangdong and Jiangsu have been granted with the looser policy. It has already taken effect.
On Thursday, the government of the northwestern region of Ningxia announced a similar change.
