Kindergarten and School-Aged Pupil Enrolments Drop Sharply Amid China’s Decline in Births

Communist policymaker’s two- and three-child incentives came too late to reverse a negative population growth

Chinese children line up under the supervision of a teacher at a kindergarten playground in Beijing, on Dec. 7, 1997. Goh Chai Hin/AFP via Getty Images

News Analysis

China’s kindergartens and elementary schools have seen student numbers decreasing dramatically following the year-by-year shrinking of China’s birth rate. The trend is expected to intensify and extend to higher grades in middle schools and colleges in the upcoming years.