Trends in Educational Mobility: How Does China Compare to Europe and the United States?

Despite impressive rise in school enrollment rates over the past few decades, there are concerns about growing inequality of educational opportunity in China. In this paper, we examine the level and trend of educational mobility in China, and compare them to those of Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US. Educational mobility is defined as the association between parents’ and children’s educational attainment. We show that China’s economic boom has been accompanied by a large decline in relative educational mobility chances, as measured by odds ratios. To elaborate, relative rates of educational mobility in China were, by international standards, quite high for those who grew up under state socialism. For the most recent cohorts, however, educational mobility rates have dropped to a level that is comparable to those of European countries, though it is still higher than the US level.