China has announced that it will allow each couple to have up to three children

 It comes after a once-in-a-decade census showed that China's population grew at its slowest pace in decades. 

This added pressure on Beijing to boost measures for couples to have more babies and avert a population decline.

It was widely expected after the census data results were released that China would relax its family policy rules.

China's census, released earlier this month, showed that around 12 million babies were born last year - a significant decrease from the 18 million in 2016, and the lowest number of births recorded since the 1960s.