Determinants of school enrollment and completion of 10 to 18 year olds in China

This paper provides an analysis of school enrollment and graduation rates in China using the 1990 Chinese Census. Five education milestones: (1) entering primary school, (2) graduating from primary school, (3) entering middle school, (4) graduating from middle school and (5) entering high school, are analyzed. Location of residence and sex are shown to be highly correlated with enrollment and graduation, with rural girls being especially disadvantaged in terms of both enrollment and graduation rates. Parental education, the presence of siblings, county level income and village level inschool rates also have consistent effects on enrollment and graduation milestones. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.