The new policy recommends that provinces allow couples to have two children if either parent is a single child. While this will affect only around 10 million couples – a small number in a country of more than 1.3 billion people – the reform represents a gigantic step toward ending the one-child rule.
类似地，强制执行了34年的独生子女政策也将修改。在大部分省份，双方本身都是独生子女的父母已经可以生育二胎。新政策建议各省允许任一方为独生子女的父母生育二胎。这项政策大概只能影响1000万对夫妻——对于人口超过13亿的中国来说，这个数字只是九牛一毛——但它代表了迈向结束独生子女规则的巨大一步。