China's two-child policy has brought a much-needed relief to policymakers as it helped to bolster country's population last year. The two-child policy, which replaced the controversial one-child policy, was introduced in 2013 as a solution for China's aging population.

China's population of new born babies reached to 17.86 million in 2016, a healthy jump of 1.4 million compared to the 2011-2015 average, according to Yang Wenzhuang, a division director at the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

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"While the total number of women of childbearing age fell by 5 million, the number of births increased significantly, showing that the family planning policy adjustments were extremely timely and extremely effective," Yang told reporters.

Yang said the government is hopeful that it will manage to keep birth rates at around 17-20 million in the coming years.

Health authorities have little doubt that the recent surge in population growth is due to the universal two-child policy, which was officially implemented across China in 2016. The policy is seen as a desperate measure to fix the incremental problem of the country's population. China has more aging people in its population than most other emerging nations.

Analysts and government officials have expressed concerns that an aging population may not be able to bear the burden of China's fast-growing economy, which could potentially derail the country's economic growth rate in the long run.

China's aging population is mostly believed to be the result of its controversial one-child policy, which was introduced in the 1980s to curb the explosive growth of the country's population. At the time, the government was worried that its rapidly increasing population might put enormous stress on the country's economic resources.

Today, more than 1.3 billion people reside in China, and the country is still officially considered as the world's most populated nation.   

TagsChina Two-Child Polic, china population, China Aging Workforce, china