Thousands of kindergartens in China are closing due to lack of children
Last Updated on November 1, 2024 9:28 am
Thousands of kindergarten schools are closing in China due to the continuous low birth rate and the resulting decrease in the number of children. This information was reported in the latest bulletin issued by the country’s Ministry of Education.
The bulletin said that in 2022, there were 289,200 kindergarten schools across China, but in 2023, it decreased to 274,400. That is, in just one year, 14,800 kindergarten schools were closed in the country.
The bulletin of the Ministry of Education also said that as a percentage, 1.2 percent of kindergarten schools in China were closed in one year. And during this period, the number of children going to kindergarten in China decreased by 3.7 percent.
The birth rate in China has been declining for the past few years. However, as time goes by, the crisis is becoming more intense instead of disappearing. In 2023, only 9 million children were born in China. This is the first time since 1949 that the country has seen so few children born in a single year.
According to the country’s population researchers, China’s birth rate should be 2.1 at the moment; but last year the birth rate was less than 1.
Meanwhile, as the birth rate falls, the number of children is falling, while the number of elderly people is increasing. Many of the kindergartens that have been closed have already been converted into nursing homes.
Chinese demographer He Yafu said that as the number of children decreases, the number of students in kindergarten schools will decrease – this is natural. But closing schools one after another is not a positive thing. In my opinion, the age limit for children to enter kindergarten schools should be lowered to 3 years.
A major reason for the decline in the birth rate in China is that young adults are not getting married and are increasingly living alone. The main reason for the increasing tendency of young people to live alone is the slow economic development and rising unemployment.
According to the country’s statistics office, 3 million 43 thousand couples got married in China in the first 6 months of this year. This number is 4 lakh 98 thousand less than the first 6 months of the previous year, i.e. 2023.
China was once the most populous country in the world. Even the ruling Communist Party government in the country adopted a one-child policy to control the population.
But due to strict adherence to this policy, the country’s birth rate started to decline from 2010. To overcome this crisis, the Chinese government abolished the one-child policy in 2016.
In addition to abolishing the one-child policy, the Chinese government also set a goal of increasing China’s population to 1.4 billion by 2020. But it did not succeed.
Source: South China Morning Post