A Chinese family at a railway station in Hefei, central China's Anhui province, 26 June 2006

China says it will continue its one-child family policy because it is crucial to the country's modernization plans.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told a conference on population and family planning in Beijing Wednesday the policy is especially important in China's highly populated countryside.

Mr. Wen called on the government to extend rewards and subsidies, including social insurance, for people living in rural areas. He said migrant workers should be offered the same incentives.

Since the late 1970's, the government has limited most urban couples to one child, and rural couples to two, in an effort to slow population growth.

The head of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, Zhang Weiqing, has said China's population would be 400 million higher if not for the family planning policy.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.