Primary and junior high school enrollment numbers have dropped in recent decades as a result of a declining birth rate, according to research released Monday.
The report was published on www.eol.cn, the country's largest education website, showed that primary-school enrollment had declined from 25 million in 1997 to 16.58 million in 2014.
Likewise, junior high school enrollment numbers decreased from 22.63 million to 14.48 million during the same period of time.
The report attributed the decline to the falling birthrate.
In the 1990s more than 20 million children were born annually, this is now around 16 million. The lowest number was 15.8 million in 2006, according to the China Population Association.
