By Li Hongmei

A breakthrough to China's one-child policy which will enable more couples to have two children may come as soon as the first quarter of next year.

Eligible couples will be able to take their registered residency book, identity cards, marriage certificate and only-child certificate to the family planning authority of their local government, National Health and Family Planning Commission officials told China Central Television yesterday. The authority will check the documents and issue a permit to those eligible.

"The eligible couple can apply for the second child permit in any spouse's registered provincial government which has enacted the new policy," said Yang Wenzhuang, head of the commission's family planning department.

As many eligible couples may be in their 30s or 40s, officials said national health authorities have required regional health facilities to strengthen prenatal services. All relevant departments, such as health and education, should also be fully prepared.

The change to decades-old family planning regulations was announced by the Party last month and will allow couples where one spouse is an only child to have two children.

Previously, both spouses had to be from a one-child family or the first child had to have a non-inherited disability to qualify for a second child.

In some rural areas, couples are already allowed a second child if their first is a girl.

The new policy will be enacted after each provincial-level legislature amends the current family planning regulation.

Yesterday, the State Council submitted a bill to adjust the family planning policy to the bi-monthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, which runs until Saturday.

It argued the need to adjust the family planning policy in the face of the country's steadily declining birth rate and changing demographic structure.

China's total birth rate - the number of children each woman delivers in her life - has remained relatively low and shows a tendency to decline further.

The rate has dropped to between 1.5 and 1.6 since the 1990s, which means that Chinese women of child-bearing age each give birth to 1.5 to 1.6 children on average, according to the bill.

"If China continues with the current family planning policy, the birth rate would continue reducing and lead to a sharp drop of the total population after reaching the peak, impacting long-term sustainable development," said Li Bin, the commission's director.

The country's working population began to drop in 2012 by 3.45 million annually, and it is likely to reduce by 8 million every year after 2023, the bill noted.

The country's population aged 60 and above will reach 400 million and account for a quarter of the nation's total population in the early 2030s, up from just a seventh now.

To adapt to the new circumstances and meet people's expectations, the country has to adjust its family planning policies, Li said.

"It is the right time to do it as the low birth rate is stable, the working population is still large and the burden to support the elderly is relatively light," she said.

Adjusting the policy now will also pave the way for all couples to have two children, she added.