The demographic dividend of a country depends on the size of the population, but the quality of the population is more important, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said.

The statement was made in response to projections in the United Nations Population Fund's State of World Population Report 2023 released on Wednesday which suggests that India is to surpass China as the world's most populous country by mid-2023.

Chinese people's education level has significantly improved in the past 20 years.

According to the Seventh National Population Census, the average years of schooling for people aged 15 and above increased from 7.85 years in 2000 to 9.91 years in 2020.

There were 218 million people with college-level or above education in 2020. On a per 100,000-person basis, the number went up from 3,611 persons to 15,467 from 2000 to 2020.

Higher-quality workforce

As the education level of the Chinese population has improved, so did the labor quality.

The average years of schooling among the working-age (16-59) population was up to 10.75 years in 2020 from 9.67 years in 2010.

According to the Seventh National Population Census, China's working-age population stood at 880 million in 2020, accounting for 62.4 percent of the nation's total registered population of 1.41 billion and providing a key foundation for economic development.

The continuous improvement of educational attainment demonstrates China's achievements in promoting higher education, eradicating illiteracy among young and middle-aged adults and raising the population quality.

There have been significant improvements in access to education over the same period.

China has established the world's largest higher education system with 240 million people having received higher education, the country's Ministry of Education announced last May.

The country has continuously invested in the development of professional technical human resources and the training of high-skilled talents, supplying enterprises with a sufficient number of high-quality talents.

In 2022, China's fiscal spending on education remained above 4 percent of its GDP for 10 consecutive years, which has laid the foundation for the country's high-quality labor force.

A major objective for economic and social development stated during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) reads: "All Chinese people will enjoy better education opportunities, with the average years of schooling among the working-age population rising to 11.3." 

"China's demographic dividend has not disappeared, and our talent dividend is in the making. The driving force for China's development remains strong," said Chinese Premier Li Qiang during a press conference in March. 

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