China population: teachers face uncertain future with falling birth rate set to create 1.9 million surplus by 2035
- China faces a surplus of 1.5 million primary school teachers and 370,000 middle schoolteachers by 2035
- Births of newborn babies in China have fallen since 2017, with the number of kindergarten students falling for the first time in nearly two decades in 2021
Regarded as one of the “iron rice bowls” of China, teaching has remained a much sought-after option for Chinese jobseekers in an era of economic uncertainty.
But they may find less guaranteed job security once symbolised by the iron rice bowl concept in the years to come as an accelerating decline in births is leading to a surplus of teachers, with millions expected to lose their jobs in the next 10 years.
With a rapidly increasing number of retirees and a plummeting number of newborns, China is undergoing a demographic transition that has far-reaching implications, including slower economic growth and a strained social security system.
The number of children attending kindergartens also saw its first decline in nearly two decades in 2021, while primary school students fell in 2022 for the first time in a decade, according to the Ministry of Education.
