Nearly 20,000 Chinese couples allowed second child

Nearly 20,000 Chinese couples have been granted a permit to have a second child since the Chinese capital city relaxed its family planning policy on February 21. According to statistics released on Sunday by Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning, of the 21,249 couples who filled birth applications, 19,363 have been given the permit, Xinhua reported. Of those granted permits, around 56 per cent were women aged between 31-35 years, the commission said. It also said that there were 537 women aged above 40. At the end of 2013, China relaxed the decade-old one-child policy which was designed to curb population growth. A majority of the Chinese provinces have allowed couples to have a second child if either parent is an only child, ndtv.com