Youth Development

China released a detailed 10-year youth development plan on April 13, vowing to provide better education, employment and healthcare for the nation’s youth. “Youth” in the context of the plan released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council refers to those aged from 14 to 35.

The Middle- and Long-term Youth Development Plan (2016-25) sets a general goal of establishing a “youth development policy system and work mechanism” by 2020 and improving the system by 2025. Specifically, the plan sets educational goals of an average 13.5 years of education for newly added labor force and a gross higher education enrollment rate of over 50 percent within the next 10 years.

“Youth is the country’s future and the nation’s hope,” reads the plan. The government will also narrow the educational gap across the country and pump more capital and resources into the less developed western areas, it says.