After 36 years, China has officially ended its one-child policy.

Xinhua cites a Chinese Communist report that says all couples throughout the country are allowed to have two children.

The one-child policy was introduced in 1979 as a way for China to rein in its massive population boom.

This breaking news was been foreshadowed on Monday when China Daily ran a story saying 100 million couples could conceivably become eligible under a “universal” two-child policy. The report did not say when such a thing would happen, only suggesting that it may “happen soon”.

China introduced a two-child policy in late 2013 in which couples were eligible to apply to have a second child so long as one of the parents is an only child themselves. However, despite many Chinese eager to have a second child, others are deciding to have only one child due to financial restraints.

China is expected to experience a decline in its labor pool as soon as 2021. This is also the time when a gender imbalance that has traditionally favored boys will result in the creation of 30 million single men, or ten percent of the male Chinese population, who are not expected to marry.