Education Inequality between Rural and Urban Areas of the People's Republic of China, Migrants’ Children Education, and Some Implications

Abstract

Education inequality between the rural and urban areas of the People's Republic of China (PRC)—a potential bottleneck for human capital accumulation—has long been of interest to researchers and policymakers. This paper uses data from the China Family Panel Survey (CFPS) and the Rural–Urban Migration in China (RUMiC) survey to compare the education performance of rural children, children of rural-to-urban migrants, and urban children over the period 2009–2010. Results show that education performance of rural children and migrants’ children is significantly lower than that of their urban counterparts even after accounting for differences in personal attributes such as nutrition and parenting style. This provides useful insights for policymaking to reduce rural–urban education inequality and assist human capital accumulation in the PRC.

Keywords

• education inequality
• rural-to-urban migration
• human capital accumulation