Since the early 1970s, China has experienced a dramatic fall in the
total fertility rate (TFR) from an average of 5.81 children per
woman in 1970 to only 1.84 children in 1994, which is lower than
the replacement level (see Figure 1). This rapid decline in the TFR
is attributed to two major factors: rapid socio-economic
development and the successful implementation of the national
family planning programme which was launched in the early 1970s.
However, as well as economic and health policy changes, there have
been accompanying social changes in both urban and rural sectors
of the society and here we intend to examine the effect of education,
especially that of women, on fertility in China.
Under Chinese law, women enjoy equal rights with men in all
matters, including education. Persistent efforts have been made by
the Chinese Government to popularize education and improve
people's educational attainments. Due to these efforts, the illiteracy
rate for young people of both sexes has declined and their
educational attainment increased. Since the foundation of the
People's Republic of China, 110 million formerly illiterate women
have become literate, bringing down the proportion of women in the
total illiterate population from 90% in 1949 to 32% in 1992. The
national enrolment rate of female children at school age increased
from 15% in 1949 to 96.3% in 1995. By the end of 1997, the
number of female graduates and post-graduates was 1.24 million,
amounting to 36.42% and 30.35% of the total respectively.
Nevertheless, the educational level of Chinese women is still
lower than that of men. Data from the 1990 census show that the
ratios of male students to female students in universities, senior
middle schools, junior middle schools and primary schools were
1:0.39, 1:0.64, 1:0.64 and 1:0.92, respectively. Chinese women,
particularly in rural areas, have far less access to higher education
than men, and their rate of illiteracy remains relatively high.
Statistical data indicate that in 1990 the illiteracy rate for females
aged 15 years and older was 32%, whereas that for males in the
same age group was only 13%.