With more than 10 million students enrolling in colleges and universities each year amid a boom in the higher education sector, China is building an expanding and highly skilled workforce, Lei said.
Official data shows that, by the end of 2025, China had about 851.36 million people ages 16 to 59, and that group had an average of 11.3 years of schooling, up 0.1 year from a year earlier.
Lei added that the annual number of newborns has remained at about 8 million despite an overall downward trend.
“Compared with other developed and developing countries, very few have births at this level, so China will still have a relatively ample labour force in the future,” he said.
Lei noted that China will continue to roll out fertility-friendly measures to ease the burden of childbirth, child-rearing and education.
Among the latest fertility support policies are the rollout of a fertility subsidy, which has so far benefited more than 30 million families, and the establishment of nearly 12,600 early pregnancy care clinics nationwide, providing counselling and assessments.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 