23 shocking photos that show just how crowded China has become

Reuters/Stringer

Tourists gather on the Great Wall outside Beijing.

China's population was approaching 1 billion when it established its one-child-per-family policy in the late 1970s.

However, China announced in the fall of 2015 that the policy would be dropped due to unintended consequences, including a skewing of the population towards males and a disproportionate representation of elderly people.

By allowing couples to have two children, China is hoping to bring balance back to the country's demographics. The current population rests at around 1.3 billion after having the policy in place for over 35 years. Only time will tell how the lifting of the rule will impact the numbers.

These photos from Reuters show how crowded the country has already become.

Jack Sommer wrote an earlier version of this story.