BEIJING

 China has abandoned its one child policy, lifting the ban on most couples for the first time in more than 30 years.

State news agency Xinhua announced the news in a surprise “China abandons one-child policy” tweet Thursday afternoon. Couples will now be allowed to have as many as two children.

The news came from a communique issued by the Communist Party of China at the end of a four-day party gathering in Beijing. 

China introduced the policy in the late 1970s to rein in population growth in an effort to overhaul the economy by limiting most urban couples to one child and most rural couples to two.

It allowed the birth of a second child if the first child was a girl.

Late leader Deng Xiaoping considered the then birth rate of almost three children per woman a drag on economic growth.

A major policy change at the end of 2013 allowed couples to have a second child if either parent was an only child.

The state controlled People's Daily announced the news with a cartoon of a beaming couple holding hands with a smiling infant boy and a girl.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby welcomed the announcement as a "positive step", but added, "We look forward to the day when birth limits are abandoned altogether."