Chinese province mulls 'three-child policy'

BEIJING, July 31 (Reuters): China's northeastern province of Liaoning is planning to loosen birth restrictions and allow some couples to have a third child in a bid to improve dwindling fertility rates and stop its workforce from declining.

China introduced a controversial "one-child policy" in 1978, but relaxed restrictions in 2016 to allow all couples to have two children as it tried to rebalance its rapidly ageing population.

However, experts have called for more radical measures, with birth rates still in decline and China's health services and pension funds expected to come under increasing strain as the number of elderly people increases.

Liaoning's provincial government said on its website on Tuesday that revising family planning regulations was one of its major priorities for 2019.