premise: The government of China's most populous province has rejected proposals to ease the one-child rules and allow couples who were themselves single children to have a second child.
  The huge population prevented Henan province from loosening the birth control restrictions, said Deputy Governor Wang Jumei.
  The population of Henan reached 97.68 million at the end of 2005. Henan had entered a fourth birth peak, with 1.1 million babies born each year, said Wang.
  The net increase in the population was more than 500,000 a year, equal to the population of a medium-sized county, added Wang.
   What does "loosening" refer to?
hypothesis: 1.1 million babies born each year