China plans to boost the number of nursery places for children to make it easier for mothers to return to work.
National Health and Family Planning Commission head Wang Peian announced the initiative on Saturday as part of a fresh bid to up the country's birth rate, a year and a half after China ended its one-child policy.
The 18.5 million babies born last year was an increase of 1.4 million on the average of the previous five years, Wang said on the sidelines of the annual plenary session of the National People's Congress in Beijing.
The number met expectations but there were still many families who were put off from having more than one child because of the financial burden and the question of who would look after additional children, he said.
About 60 per cent of Chinese parents are reluctant to have a second child, according to government figures.
China implemented its controversial one-child policy in 1979 in order to put a brake on population growth.
However, the policy was reversed in late 2015 amid concerns a shrinking workforce would not be able to support a rapidly ageing population.
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