Editor's note:

China's population authority is reportedly considering loosening its family planning policy at the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) to address the country's shrinking working-age population and an increasing burdensome social safety net.

Currently, couples residing in rural areas and members of minority ethnic groups are allowed to have a second child when their firstborn is a girl. In urban areas, parents can have two children if both the mother and father have no siblings.

China's National Population and Family Planning Commission first introduced the one-child policy in the early 1970s to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems caused by the rapidly growing Chinese population. This policy created an only-child generation, often described as lonely, fragile and heavily burdened by social responsibility.

According to an online survey by Sina.com, 56.45 percent of 20,262 participants want to have a second child.

Will this more than 30-year-old policy come to an end? [Poll]

China.org.cn asked scholars, a parent who is the only child herself and a social commentator for their opinions.

Cheng Enfu: Tightening the one-child policy will promote public well-being

It's not time to ease the one-child policy in China since the population will continue to expand rapidly even with a lower birth rate.  >>

Mu Guangzong: Ease one-child policy conducive to national development

Analyses show that a fertility rate of 1.8 is a sustainable population growth rate in China, meaning each couple in the countries should be allowed to have two children.  >>

Chen Chen: Chinese government should relax One Child Policy

Growing up with a sibling is good for a child's personality. I hope my kid grows up learning to share.  >>

Kelly Diep: Subtracting dogs and adding children

China's economic landscape and changing demographics requires that the one-child policy undergo a change.  >>

[By Li Wei/China.org.cn]