Progress report on China's youth development

3) Health

The physical health of young students continues to improve. More students have met the standard of good physical health. The ratio of students aged 13-22 achieving "excellent physical health" level rose to 17.7 percent in 2019 from 14.4 percent in 2014. There has been a continuous improvement in student morphological development indicators. Compared to 2014, there was a significant increase in height, weight, and chest measurement for boys and girls aged 13-22 in 2019.

More attention has been paid to youth mental health. Political, legal, educational and health departments and the CYL organs have been facilitating the improvement of adolescent mental health service system. In 2020, more than 400,000 calls concerning adolescent mental health and legal counseling and more than 3,100 individual cases were dealt with by 12355 Youth Hotline Service run by the CYL Central Committee main station and its six regional centers.

4) Marriage

The number of marriage registration for young people of right age [2] continues to decline. From 2016 to 2020, the number fell from 17.51 million to 12.23 million.

There is a growing trend of late marriage for young people of the right age. The average age of first marriage rose from 26.1 years old in 2016 to 26.8 years old in 2020. Among young people aged 20-35 who have registered to get married, a considerable shift is seen in the proportion of the age group 20-24 and that of the age group 30-35, with the former decreasing from 36.5 percent in 2016 to 29.0 percent in 2020, while the latter increased from 17.0 percent to 26.1 percent.

5) Employment and Entrepreneurship

The situation of youth employment fluctuates. In 2020, youth employment was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the downward pressure of the world economy. A total of 750 million people were employed among which young people aged 16-34 accounted for 31.6 percent, down 2 percentage points from the previous year. The monthly urban unemployment rate for young people aged 16-24 was higher than the same period of the previous year, reaching a peak of 16.8 percent in July and August. A total of 11.86 million new urban jobs were created, 1.66 million fewer than the previous year. In 2020, 8.74 million students graduated from colleges and universities and 4.82 million graduated from secondary vocational schools, showing that young people still make up the majority of new employees.

There are more diversified employment channels for youth. With rapid growth of new business forms such as e-commerce and shared economy driven by fast development of internet, new career choices have been emerging. In 2020, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security added 25 new occupations in two batches. Young people have become the main force of employment in new occupations, and can get a job in a broader way. For young people, part-time jobs and job-hopping have become normal.

6) Culture

Young cultural talents enjoy a better growth environment. In 2020, artistic talents and managing personnel have attended online and offline training for more than 9,200 times. Among them, young people made up 37.9 percent, an increase of 11.5 percentage points over the previous year. From 2019 to 2020, China National Arts Fund has sponsored 560 young artists, with total funding of 87.15 million yuan.

The number of books that each young person reads rose in 2020. Young readers on average read 6.9 paper books and 4.3 e-books in 2020. Both figures are higher than the previous year. Paper books, being read by 68.4 percent of young people, remain the main medium for reading and learning by the younger generation.

Internet penetration continues to be strong among young people. In 2020, there were 989 million netizens in China. Young people were the main consumers of cyberculture, such as online literature, music, videos, games, and learning.