The number of
people with a junior college and above education increased
from 6% in 2004 to 7% (24.11 million, or 1.83% of
total population) in 2005. China has a total of 1792
universities & colleges in China in 2005, a total
20.96 million students. Among these students, 19.98
million people enrolled with a bachelor or diploma
degree; 787,293 enrolled with Master’s degree, and
191,317 enrolled with Doctorates. The number of people
with a senior secondary education rose to 18%; the
number of people with a junior secondary education
dropped from 29% to 27% and the number of people with
a primary school education decreased from 50% to 48%.
The rapid improvement in
the country’s educational level in the 1990s due to
the enforcement of the nine-year compulsory education
in China. It is the government’s effort in encouraging
continuing education and achieving higher education.
This results in a reduce of illiteracy among young
and middle-aged people. According to the Fifth National
Population Census 2004, the illiteracy rate of population
of age 15 and above was 6.72%, down 9.16% from the
rate of 15.88% in the 1990 census.
