China has formally revised its laws to allow couples to have up to three children in an effort to boost the birth rate.
The regulation was one of several passed on Friday at a meeting of the country's top lawmakers, the National People's Congress (NPC), according to reporting by the BBC.
China had announced back in May that it would allow couples to have up to three children, in a major policy shift.
That decision has now been formally passed into law, along with several resolutions aimed at boosting the birth rate and "reducing the burden" of raising a child.
These include canceling the "social maintenance fee" - a financial penalty couples pay for having children beyond the limit, encouraging local governments to offer parental leave, increasing women's employment rights,and improving childcare infrastructure.
Recent census data showed a steep decline in the birth rate.
In 2016, the country had scrapped its decades-old one-child policy to replace it with a two-child limit, but this failed to lead to a sustained upsurge in births.
A large deterrent for many Chinese couples is the cost of raising children in cities.
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