Scope
The number of left-behind children in China’s rural areas is 58 million, This is 28.29% of the whole number of children in rural China, and 21.72% of the total number of children in China. Among them, there are 40 million under the age of 14.
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The data published by China Women Association (CWA) was based on research for a 2005 China national population spot check. Compared with 20 million in 2000, the number of left-behind children had a significant growth in 5 years. Furthermore, the growing trend is continuing since 2005 according to the national statistics data.
Structure
The percentages of the 4 groups of left-behind children, which are the age-divided groups of pre-school (0 to 5), primary school (6 to 11), middle school (12 to 14) and older (15 to 17), are 27.05%、34.85％、20.84％ and 17.27% respectively. The percentages of boys and girls are 53.71% and 46.29%.
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The groups of 6 to 11 and 12 to 14, which are the periods of compulsory education in China, account for over half of the total LBC. Among them, the primary school group has the biggest number. The difference between boys and girls of LBC links to the whole gender rates. In rural China, the number of boys is greater than the number of girls.
Distribution
The distribution of left-behind children in rural China is rather centralized. 52% LBC in rural China live in 6 provinces, which are Sichuan, Anhui, Henan, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi.
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Apart from the six provinces mentioned above, the other 4 provinces that contain the largest number of LBC are Guangxi, Hubei, Guizhou and Jiangsu. Most provinces listed are located in the mid and western parts of China, which are places typical for labour exporting. Guangdong province and Jiangsu province, on the other hand, also have a significant certain number of left-behind children because of labour transfer within the provinces.
Sources:
http://www.cqdy.com.cn/dyky/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=4076
