Chinese kindergarten admissions down by 740,000 to 18.6 million in 2018
- The bad news keeps coming for Beijing despite its efforts to encourage people to have more children
- Education ministry figures also show fewer children are entering senior high school
The number of Chinese children entering kindergarten in 2018 fell by 740,000, or almost 4 per cent, from the previous year to 18.6 million, the education ministry reported on Tuesday, reinforcing concerns about the country’s falling fertility rate.
Although the total number of children in kindergarten rose by 562,800 last year, the annual increase was the smallest since 2015, the ministry said.
Faced with a rapidly ageing workforce China began relaxing its one-child policy in 2014 and since 2016 all couples have been allowed to have two children.
Despite that – and Beijing’s 2016 prediction that 2018 would see a baby boom – the number of births last year actually fell by more than 11 per cent to 15.23 million – its lowest figure since 1961, the National Bureau of Statistics announced last month.
The number of people aged over 60 in China now accounts for 17.9 per cent of the population, the bureau said.
