NANJING, March 29 -- East China's Jiangsu Province has relaxed its family planning policy by allowing couples to have a second baby if either parent is an only child, the local legislature said.

An amendment to the Jiangsu Provincial Population and Family Planning Regulations was passed at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress on Friday.

According to the amendment, couples wishing to have a second child have to meet only one condition that the wife should be older than 24 years old.

The results of a survey conducted by the provincial government showed that about 40 percent of the families that are eligible to have a second child as a result of the policy change, are willing to have another baby.

Officials with the provincial commission of health and family planning said the birth rate might increase in the first two years after the introduction of the new policy, but that it will make little difference to the population of the province.

China's family planning policy, put in place in the late 1970s, is designed to curb population growth.

Besides Jiangsu, the municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing as well as the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui and Sichuan and Guangdong have also changed their policies.