China has announced that it will allow couples to have up to three children

The cost of raising children in cities has deterred many Chinese couples.

The census showed that around 12 million babies were born last year - a significant decrease from the 18 million in 2016.

Governments have no business regulating how many children people have.

People started looking down at their phones as they beeped with the headline flashing across their screens.

On a rainy, bleak day in Beijing I was out buying a coffee when the news broke.

"But who wants to have three kids? Young people could have two kids at most. The fundamental issue is living costs are too high and life pressures are too huge."

Generations of Chinese people have lived without siblings and are used to small families

"If relaxing the birth policy was effective, the current two-child policy should have proven to be effective too,"

It was widely expected after the census data results were released that China would relax its family policy rules.

China's replaced it with a two-child limit which has failed to lead to a sustained upsurge in births.

One thought is that, among those prepared to have two children, at least some parents will have three.