Analysis of Regional Education Inequality Trends in China (2001∼2021)

Educational policies primarily aim to reduce educational inequality by increasing access to basic and higher education. According to existing literature, scholars have yet to reach a consensus on whether there is a significant relationship between the expansion of education and educational inequality, and whether this relationship is positive or negative. Thus, this paper utilizes data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China from 2001 to 2021 to analyze the state of educational expansion. It calculates the Theil index using the average years of education as an indicator to analyze the trend of educational inequality across the nation and among regions under the policy of educational expansion. The conclusions are as follows: First, since 2001, the number of students enrolled and the enrollment rates at all levels of education nationwide have shown an overall increasing trend. Particularly, the trend of increasing enrollment rates is very evident, which overall fully reflects the achievements of China’s educational expansion. Second, educational expansion has significantly improved the educational attainment of the Chinese population, increasing from 7.81 years in 2001 to 9.78 years in 2021. Concurrently, the Theil index decreased from 0.084 to 0.077, indicating that the implementation of policies such as educational universalization and expansion has greatly improved the state of educational inequality in China. Third, for various regions, educational expansion has generally had a positive effect on reducing educational inequality. Although there have been periods of short-term fluctuations with some negative effects, the long-term trend shows that educational inequality among regions has decreased along with the expansion of education at all levels. Fourth, the decomposition of the Theil index reveals that intra-regional inequality is the main factor contributing to educational inequality. Although inter-regional differences have decreased annually, intra-regional educational inequality remains severe. Therefore, in the future, narrowing intra-regional educational inequality and reasonably controlling the trend of widening inter-regional gaps will be key areas for enhancing educational equity in China. Additionally, maintaining the continuity and consistency of educational equity policies is also crucial.