A Challenge or Opportunity? The Impacts and Countermeasures of Population Decline and Aging on Education in China---A Comparative Study

• In Event: The Role of Family and Generational Impacts in Chinese Education

Proposal

Introduction
In 2022, China’s population decreased by 850,000 people, having witnessed the first negative growth in China’s population since 1962. Relevant research data shows that China’s population will continue to decline, and the pace of decline is accelerating. As the birth rate and population decline, China will subsequently enter a stage of severe aging in the coming decades. Sub-replacement fertility, aging and negative population growth, together with new scientific and technological revolution and the wave of digitalization, artificial intelligence, and globalization will bring new challenges to economic development, and will put greater pressure on culture, education, and health. Therefore, population decline and aging have become a hot topic of research in the educational field in China. In this context, this research compared and analyzed the change of population worldwide and used policy borrowing strategy to seek solutions for China to address the challenges of sub-replacement fertility, aging and negative population growth.
Research Methodology
This study adopted mixed methods, including policy content analysis, systematic literature review, as well as interviews, to collect data. Specifically, data was collected from the existing policy documents, research reports and literature on population and education in addition to interviews with experts, government officials, teachers and students at different levels of education. The analysis and discussion focused on the change of population and responses from education worldwide as well as the possible policy arrangement for education reform in China.
Findings and Discussion
This study finds that many developed countries such as Japan, South Korea, the USA, the UK, France, and Germany, have already experienced similar population changes. Their experiences indicates that sub-replacement fertility, aging and negative population growth is both a challenge and an opportunity for socio-economic development and education. While posing a challenge for the economic growth, population decline and aging also provides an opportunity to establish a more equitable and high-quality education system. It has become a policy choice for countries around the world to replace demographic dividend with talent dividend. To address the challenges population decline and aging has brought about, in addition to encouraging fertility and improving infant care services, some developed countries have taken the following measures, including building a lifelong learning system to improve the overall quality of the population, reforming the teaching modes and methods to improve the educational quality, promoting small-size classes and personalized teaching, improving after-school services and academic and career guidance, attracting more international students, and introducing high-level talents. These practices have significant reference value for China.
Conclusion
In the era of globalization, sub-replacement fertility, aging and population decline is now a global challenge. The research findings of this study are expected to add value for research and practice of population change and education in China and beyond, especially for the developing countries.

Author

• Baocun Liu, Beijing Normal University