The Population and Family Planning Law was promulgated in 2001 and amended in 2015 respectively. The latest revision entered into force on January 1, 2016.

There are 47 articles in total.

The key points are as follows:

1.The State adopts comprehensive measures to control the population and to improve the quality of life.

2.The State Council shall draw up the population development plan, and the local governments shall, according to the population development planning, draw up the implementation programs on population and family planning and organize the implementation.

3.Citizens have the right of bearing, and shall also bear the obligation of practicing family planning according to law. The State advocates that one couple bear two children.

4.Contraception shall play a main role in family planning. The state shall reward the spouses practicing family planning according to the provisions.

5.It is prohibited to discriminate or maltreat the women who bear female babies or the women who are incapable of bearing. And it is prohibited to discriminate, maltreat or abandon female babies.

6.The State shall issue the Honor Certificate for Single-Child Parents to a couple who, during the period when the State advocates that one couple bear only one child, volunteer to bear only one child in their lifetime.

7.The State shall establish the pre-marriage health care system and the pregnancy and childbearing period health care system to prevent or reduce the birth defects, and to improve the condition of health of the babies born.

8.It is strictly prohibited to use ultrasound technology or other technological means to identify the gender of a fetus without medical needs; and it is strictly prohibited to abort a pregnancy based on the gender of a fetus without medical needs.