The latest annual report on total education expenditure has been released. Recently, the Ministry of Education, the National Bureau of Statistics, and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the "Statistical Report on the Implementation of National Education Funds in 2024" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). The Report indicates that the total national investment in education reached 6,889.924 billion yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 6.66%; of this, state fiscal expenditure on education amounted to 5,416.105 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.38%. The growth rates of these two indicators were 1.33 and 3.32 percentage points higher than the previous year, respectively, further highlighting that investing in education is tantamount to "investing in people." It is noteworthy that the proportion of state fiscal education funds to GDP was 4.02% in 2024, remaining stably above 4% for the 13th consecutive year. Against the backdrop of China's overall fiscal revenue-to-GDP ratio being relatively low and fiscal revenues and expenditures being in a tight balance, achieving the "4% target," even at this level, represents a significant accomplishment.
Compared to previous years, the Report also features a change: it no longer discloses per-student education expenditure by educational stage. This adjustment is primarily based on considerations to adapt to changes in China's school-age population and to guide local authorities in strengthening the overall planning of educational resources according to their actual circumstances.
The total amount of education funding continues to grow. Investment in education serves as both the "lifeline" for safeguarding the development of educational undertakings and the "engine" driving the enhancement of national long-term competitiveness and innovation capacity. The Report shows that both the total national investment in education and state fiscal education funds have sustained growth, "reaching a new level" every few years. The total national investment in education surpassed 5 trillion yuan in 2019, exceeded 6 trillion yuan in 2022, and approached 7 trillion yuan in 2024. State fiscal education funds first exceeded 5 trillion yuan in 2023 and continued their steady growth in 2024.
"Amid complex situations with intertwined multiple pressures, China has unwaveringly implemented the strategy of prioritizing education development. The continuous growth in the total volume of education funding, ongoing optimization of its structure, and steadily enhanced safeguarding capacity have provided solid support for the stable operation and high-quality development of the education sector," said Zhao Nan, Vice Dean of the School of Statistics at Beijing Normal University.
Within the total education investment, 78.61% comes from fiscal funds, indicating the continuously consolidated primary role of government investment. In 2024, the proportion of general public budget expenditure on education to the total national general public budget expenditure was 14.58%. The growth rate of general public budget education expenditure was 0.31 percentage points higher than the growth rate of national general public budget revenue. Against the overall backdrop of tightening fiscal resources, education has consistently remained a key priority for fiscal support, allowing education investment to still achieve stable growth.
Government investment is set to increase further. China has fully implemented one year of free preschool education. Calculations show that for the Fall 2025 semester alone, this policy will benefit over 12 million people, increasing national fiscal expenditure by approximately 20 billion yuan and correspondingly reducing household expenditure by 20 billion yuan. The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to "prompt investment to stop declining and stabilize," while also requiring that "investment in physical assets and investment in people must be closely integrated." Zhao Nan believes that education is the core area of "investing in people" and represents the most foundational, long-term, and comprehensively rewarding form of public investment. He suggests further increasing the proportion of fiscal education expenditure within total fiscal expenditure and the share of education within government investment.
The achievement of the "4% target" has not been easy. The "4% target" is a crucial indicator for measuring a country's level of fiscal investment in education and the degree of government effort. The "Outline of the Plan for Building a Leading Country in Education (2024–2035)" explicitly states the need to "ensure that the proportion of state fiscal education expenditure to GDP remains above 4%." The phrasing regarding the "4% target" has been adjusted from "generally not less than" to "above," fully demonstrating the heightened importance attached to educational endeavors. In 2024, the proportion of state fiscal education funds to GDP was 4.02%, maintaining a level above 4% for the 13th consecutive year. How should this achievement be viewed? The numerator of the 4% is state fiscal education expenditure, and the denominator is GDP, closely linked to economic growth and fiscal revenue/expenditure conditions. Looking solely at the numerator, state fiscal education expenditure continued its stable growth in 2024. But why does the "4% target" still hover at a relatively low level despite continuous increases in government investment? A relevant official from the Department of Finance of the Ministry of Education explained that, according to international empirical data, the level of the 4% ratio is directly related to the proportion of fiscal revenue to GDP. Generally, when a country's fiscal revenue-to-GDP ratio reaches 30%–40%, this ratio (education expenditure to GDP) can potentially exceed 4%. However, China's fiscal revenue-to-GDP ratio has long been below the world average, especially in recent years, as downward pressure on the economy has intensified annually, causing China's fiscal revenue-to-GDP ratio to decrease rather than increase. For instance, the proportion of broad government revenue to GDP was 25.8% in 2023 and fell to 24.1% in 2024. The aforementioned official pointed out, "Against this background, our ability to continuously maintain the 4% baseline is highly commendable and fully reflects the strategic determination of the Party Central Committee and the State Council to prioritize the development of education and the保障 of education investment."
Zhao Nan stated that with economic and social development and the enhancement of fiscal capacity, efforts should be made to gradually increase the proportion of fiscal education expenditure to GDP on a stable basis, aligning education investment with the goal of building a leading country in education. This aligns with international experience and meets the practical needs of China's transition from a large educational system to a leading educational power. Furthermore, it is necessary to further improve the institutional mechanism for raising education funds through multiple channels. Zhou Hongyu, President of the National Institute of Educational Governance at Central China Normal University, believes that legislation should be enacted or amended in a timely manner to moderately increase tax incentives for educational donations, establish tax exemption mechanisms for educational charitable trusts, further stimulate the enthusiasm for social capital to invest in education, and continuously expand the total volume of education funding.
Adapting to changes in the school-age population requires the overall planning of resources. The "Outline of the Plan for Building a Leading Country in Education (2024–2035)" has made the strategic deployment to "improve the strategic investment mechanism for education," with changes in the school-age population being a major variable in perfecting related mechanisms. Compared to previous years, the Report no longer discloses per-student expenditure figures by educational stage. The relevant official from the Ministry of Education's Department of Finance explained that in recent years, China's school-age population has shown a trend of overall decline, peaking in waves across different stages, and regional variations in growth and decline. To guide local authorities to strengthen the overall planning of educational resources based on regional realities, promptly adjust and optimize the structure of education expenditure, and further improve the efficiency of education fund utilization, the decision was made to discontinue the publication of per-student expenditure by stage. However, relevant data can still be accessed through the "China Education Finance Statistical Yearbook."
Currently, China's school-age population is undergoing "wave-like" changes, with populations for primary school and preschool education having already peaked. Zhou Hongyu indicated that under these circumstances, basic education resources need to be integrated across different stages, and educational resources at each stage should be utilized based on local conditions to prevent idle resources and wastage. The higher education population will continue to increase for some time. Recently, the State Council's report on the allocation and use of fiscal funds for higher education was submitted to the 19th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress for deliberation. The report proposes to accelerate the establishment of a fiscal investment mechanism for higher education that adapts to the trends in the school-age population. The report requires continuous monitoring and analysis of changes in the higher education-age population, prospective research on optimizing the allocation of higher education resources and adjusting the structure of fiscal education investment, to strongly support universities in increasing学位 supply and ensuring the smooth passage of the peak school-age population.
"Changes in the school-age population are one of the key variables affecting the long-term landscape of education investment. From the perspective of international experience and the laws of educational development, a decline in the school-age population is often accompanied by an increase in per-student investment levels and heightened demands for educational quality. This change imposes higher requirements on education investment," Zhao Nan said.
Zhao Nan recommended optimizing the methods of inter-regional fiscal support for education. By improving the system of central government transfers to local governments for education, support can be more precisely targeted towards capacity expansion and quality improvement in population-inflow areas and towards enhancing school conditions in disadvantaged areas. Simultaneously, addressing demographic changes should be closely integrated with the implementation of the "investing in people" strategy, transforming the pressure from population structure changes into a driving force for the orderly conversion of demographic, human capital, and talent dividends.
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