Families get bigger

The week's news at a glance.

Beijing

Chinese parents are rebelling against the official one-child policy, China’s top family-planning official said this week. China restricts urban residents to one child per couple, while rural residents are strongly encouraged to abide by that limit. But Zhang Weiqing, director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said China’s newly affluent are flouting the rule. “The number of rich people and celebrities having more than one child is on a rapid increase, and nearly 10 percent of them even have three,” Zhang said. At least one province has threatened family-planning officials with penalties if their districts have too many children. China is the world’s most populous country, with 1.3 billion people.

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