BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhuanet)-- Future destiny of China's once-ambitious family planning policy has become a controversial topic in the academic circle.

    At a recent forum on China's population and economy hosted by the Beijing University, the family planning policy was challenged by a number of Chinese scholars and government officials.

A woman shows her one-child certificate in Fuyang, Anhui Province in this November 14, 2005 photo. (China Daily)

    An unanimous opinion from the forum showed China should mull its population policy in a more scientific way and seek a proper resolution.

    Existing population structure remains a challenging issue    

    Since China launched its family planning policy three decades ago, most couples have only one child. Disputes are now raised across the country over the expanding gray generation and skewed gender ratio.

    Official statistics showed that China now ranks in the low-birth-rate" club with a population natural growth rate of 0.9 per thousand.

    At the same time, people above age 65 make up 7.6 percent of China's total population, a sign of a quicker pace into an aging society.

    The gender gap among children born in China has been widened in recent years. Figures show that the average ratio of boys to girls was 117 to 100, exceeding the norm of 105 to 100.

    Chinese economists said at the forum that the imbalanced population structure and aging population are likely to be a bottleneck of China's long-term economic growth and bring about a series of economic and social problems.

    "With a birth rate drop, China's labor force may stabilize at its height in 2013 and then gradually drop year by year", said CaiFang, head of the Population and Labor Economy Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS).

    Cai said China's abundant labor force once was regarded a "big bonus" to the country's high-speed economic growth, with its contribution to the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) exceeding 25 percent in the past two decades.

    "But now the bonus is decreasing," said Cai, adding that the contribution of population to China's GDP will also be reduced as the labor force structure changed.