The number of postgraduates in China has increased 14 times over the past 18 years, while the number of primary school students has declined for 13 consecutive years, the Beijing News reported on Tuesday.

Colleges and universities across the country recruited a total of about 30,000 postgraduates in 1990, while the number surged to more than 446,000 last year, a spokesperson from Ministry of Education said.

There has been a sharp plunge in the number of primary schools in China, which decreased to 300,000 in 2008 from 696,000 over the past 13 years. The number of primary school students has dropped to 100 million from 130 million in 1995, according to data from the Ministry of Education. It is estimated that the number of these students could drop to less than 100 million this year.

(CRIENGLISH.com July 23, 2009)