In late October, China announced an end to its one-child policy, opening the door to all couples to have two children.

This change has not scrapped the family planning policy altogether, but it reflects a growing concern with slow population growth and its negative repercussions.

While an aging population and a shrinking labor pool are among main domestic motivations for the change in the decadeslong one-child policy, theories about emerging trends in population have also contributed to the dramatic change in perception about population in China and elsewhere.