CHINA will loosen its famously strict family planning policy on a trial basis in five provinces next year to allow more couples to have a second child, a demographer says.

The change - allowing couples to have two children if one of the spouses is an only child - will be enacted in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, provinces with low birth rates, said He Yafu, an independent demographer quoting sources among policymakers.

Meant to counter the trends of a graying population and a shrinking workforce, the plan will eventuallyexpand to all of China's provinces, He told reporters of the Outlook Weekly.

It could mark a remarkablerevision of the nation's family planning limits that prevented 400 million additional births over three decades.

But officials from the National Population and Family Planning Commission said a nationwide relaxation is not coming soon.

They said China is sticking to its current policy, which restricts most urban couples to have one child and rural couples to two. An extra child can cost a couple a penalty of up to 100,000 yuan (US$ 14,985).

Officials of all five designated provinces said they had received no notice from higher-level authorities despite the widespread rumors and growing speculation.

The strict family planning rule has largely controlled the country's population, projected to peak at 1.65 billion in 2033, but also has brought a variety of problems, including one of demographic imbalance: As the nation's older people grow more numerous, the cohort of youngsters for the labor force that would support them has been getting smaller.

China's over-60 population reached 167 million, or 12.5 percent of total population, last year.

It will top 200 million in 2015. Meanwhile, China's working population, now 19 percent of the total, is projected to fall by 10 million per year after 2025.

It adds up to bad news for the social welfaresystem.

Critics also blame the one-child policy for a skewed gender ratio - 119 males for every 100 females - because of some Chinese families' traditionalpreference for boys.

By 2020, the imbalance could lead 24 million marriageable Chinese men to be wifeless, said a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

• weekly [´wi:kli] a.&ad.每周一次(的) (初中英语单词)
• remarkable [ri´mɑ:kəbl] a.值得注意的；显著的 (初中英语单词)
• additional [ə´diʃənəl] a.附加的，额外的 (初中英语单词)
• despite [di´spait] prep.尽管 (初中英语单词)
• variety [və´raiəti] n.变化；多样(性)；种类 (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
• working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中英语单词)
• welfare [´welfeə] n.福利(事业) (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
• academy [ə´kædəmi] n.专科学校；学会；协会 (初中英语单词)
• loosen [´lu:sən] v.放松；松弛 (高中英语单词)
• strict [strikt] a.严厉的；精确的 (高中英语单词)
• counter [´kauntə] n.计算者；柜台；计算机 (高中英语单词)
• expand [ik´spænd] vt.张开；膨胀；扩大 (高中英语单词)
• commission [kə´miʃən] n.委任(状) vt.委任 (高中英语单词)
• penalty [´penlti] n.刑罚；惩罚；障碍 (高中英语单词)
• speculation [,spekju´leiʃən] n.思索，推测；投机 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• preference [´prefərəns] n.优先选择；偏爱(物) (高中英语单词)
• policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)
• eventually [i´ventʃuəli] ad.最后，终于 (英语四级单词)
• outlook [´autluk] n.眺望；景色；展望 (英语四级单词)
• widespread [´waidspred] a.广布的；普遍的 (英语四级单词)
• traditional [trə´diʃənəl] a.传统的，习惯的 (英语四级单词)
• revision [ri´viʒən] n.修订(本)；修改 (英语六级单词)