Year of the Goat 'keeps birthrate low'

The Year of the Goat was a major reason for the slight decline in newborns in 2015, the nation's top health authority said.

There were 16.55 million babies born in China last year, 320,000 fewer than 2014, the Year of the Horse, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

China began to allow couples where one partner was an only child to have a second child in late 2013, which made 11 million couples eligible.