China delayed scrapping its one-child policy out of fear that the population would expand too rapidly, a senior official said on Tuesday — despite the fact demographers say the birth rate was already dwindling before it was introduced in 1979.
Beijing decided last month to relax the restriction — one of the most draconian social experiments in modern history and for long the focus of criticism overseas and resentment at home — and allow all couples to have two children.
The government has been under domestic pressure to end the policy, which has contributed to an ageing society and a shortage of workers.
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