The increase follows the relaxation of China's strict one-child policy a year ago.
由于一年前独生子女政策的放宽，中国的出生率增长显著。
There were 17.86 million births in 2016, an 7.9% increase on 2015, according to National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) statistics.
据国家卫生和计划生育委员会的统计数据显示，2016年，中国新生儿的数量达到了1786万，比2015年增加了7.9%。
More than 45% of the babies born in 2016 had one or more older siblings.
在2016年出生的这些新生儿当中，已有一个或多个兄弟姐妹的达到了45%。
"While the total number of women of childbearing age fell by five million, the number of births increased significantly, showing that the family planning policy adjustments were extremely timely and extremely effective," said the NHFPC's Yang Wenzhuang.
卫生和计划生育委员会的杨文庄表示：“虽然育龄妇女总数减少了500万，但出生人口的数量却增长明显，这表明计划生育政策调整是非常及时、非常有效的。”

He said that by 2020, there were expected to be between 17 and 20 million births every year. Officials estimate that by 2050 there will be an extra 30 million of working age in China.
他指出，到2020年，预计每年将会有1700万到2000万的新生儿。官方预计，到2050年，中国将额外出现3000万的劳动力。
Separate data by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) counted a slightly higher figure of 18.46 million births in 2016.
中国国家统计局的独立数据则要更高一些，该数据显示，2016年中国的新生儿人数达到了1846万。
The discrepancy was blamed on different statistical methods - the NBS numbers were based on a sampling survey, while the NHFPC's were based on hospital birth certificate data - but officials said both confirmed a significant upwards trend.
这一差异归因于统计方法的不同--国家统计局采用的是样本抽样的方法，而卫计委则是根据医院出生证明的数量，不过官方表示，两者都证实了出生人口显著上升的这一趋势。