The decision of the just concluded Fifth Plenum of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee to allow all couples to have two children is a historic move aimed at tackling the challenge of the fast aging population that will have a far-reaching impact on Chinese society.

The change in the family planning policy, irrespective of the controversy over its timing, will in the long run boost economic growth. The two-child policy will, first of all, largely neutralize the problems of China's demographic structure. Over the past three decades, the country's demographic dividend, or a population structure with abundant labor force and a small population of aged people and children, had been an important factor that facilitated the economic miracle.

The percentage of China's working-age population started to fall in 2010, while the dependency ratio, or the ratio of non-working-age population to the working-age population, began rising in 2011.