Two-child policy too little, too late for China

WHEN Chinese leaders convene this week for a four-day meeting on the future of the country's economy, the biggest news might have to do with babies. According to reports in Chinese media, the government may be ready to relax the notorious "one-child" policy, in existence since the late 1970s, and allow Chinese parents to have two children.

This might seem like a rare victory for human rights in a country where reproductive freedoms have long been restricted, and it is. But the government has a more practical outcome in mind. China's population of working-age adults started shrinking in 2012, and by 2050 the country will be home to fewer than 1.6 workers for every retiree, according to a 2013 report from the Paulson Institute. That's comparable to ageing, slow-growth countries such as Japan and Singapore. In response, the regime is hoping to spark a baby boom.

Unfortunately, by this point, even a two-child policy may be too little, too late. Most Chinese outside the big cities can already have two, and sometimes more, children. Meanwhile, a recent, limited opening in several cities failed to turn up many urban couples interested in having a second child.