China population: increasingly educated workforce could mitigate ‘perils’ of shrinking, ageing society
- The average years of schooling in China increased from 6.1 in 1985 to 10.7 in 2020, according to the Center for Human Capital and Labour Market Research
- China’s working-age population is shrinking and ageing, which ‘will drag down economic development’, according to independent demographer He Yafu
An increasingly educated workforce could “offset the perils” of China’s shrinking and ageing working-age population that threatens to weigh down on a wobbling economy, according to an independent demographer, after a new report highlighted the country’s deepening population crisis.
The average age of China’s workforce grew from 32.3 years in 1985 to 39 in 2020, according to a report released last week by the Center for Human Capital and Labour Market Research at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing.
But the new report also said that the national average years of schooling increased from 6.1 in 1985 to 10.7 in 2020.
China’s working population is becoming more educated on average, which could, to an extent, offset the perils of an ageing workforce
“An ageing labour force will drag down economic development,” said He Yafu, an independent demographer based in Guangdong province.
