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Chapter 3 Fertility Regulation

Article 13 The State calls for deferred marriage and childbearing. "Deferred marriage" means first marriages between men of 25 and women of 23, and "deferred childbearing" refers to first births given by women at the age of 24 and above.

Article 14 The State advocates and encourages couples to have only one child and prohibits extramarital childbirth and out-of-plan births.

Article 15 Couples who meet any one of the following conditions can have a second birth:

1. The first child is diagnosed by medical institutions above county level as having non-genetic defects and considered unable to grow up to be a normal laborer or inappropriate for marriage;

2. The couple has only one child, with either party being a veteran soldier with second-class second-degree and above disability or being the only child of a martyr;

3. Remarried couples with one party being widowed and the other having no child;

4. Remarried couples with one party being divorced with one child and the other having no child;

5. Both parties are returned overseas Chinese or compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and have only one child;

6. The couple has no child after getting married for five years and diagnosed by medical institutions above county level of being infertile, but become pregnant after having adopted a child legally;

7. One party is an only-child of a family of one child for two generations or both parties are only child and they have only one child;

8. One party has worked in a mine for at least five years in a row and still does the same job and the couple has only a female child.

Article 16 Rural residents who meet the conditions of Article 15 of this regulation and who fall into any one category of the following, subject to application and approval, can have a second birth:

1. Either party is an only-child and the couple has only one child;

2. Only one of the husband's brothers has one child and the others are not eligible for childbearing;

3. The husband is married to a woman whose family has no son, lives with them and looks after his parents-in-law and the couple has only a female child;

4. The couple has only a female child and the husband has no brothers but only a sister;

5. The couple has only a female child and lives in coastal areas where the per capita acreage of land is more than five mu;

6. Either party is engaged in ocean fishing for more than five years and is still doing the same job and the couple has only a female child. Couples with the husband being an urban resident but the wife being a rural resident can be treated in accordance with this clause.

Article 17 For couples who meet the conditions of Articles 15 and 16, if the wife is three years past the deferred marriage age, and for remarried couples reaching deferred age of marriage with the wife having no child from her previous marriage, subject to application and approval from county/prefectural family planning authorities, a birth permit can be issued for them.

Except for conditions of Articles 15 and 16, couples who apply to have another child under special circumstances shall be subject to approval from the provincial or municipal family planning commission.