January 2011

Given China's goal to develop a harmonious society and to improve the competitiveness of its future workforce in order to overcome the challenges of an aging population and move toward a high-income society, there is an urgent need to identify the gap in its human development strategy. Since China has universalized nine years of compulsory education and has rapidly increased enrollment in post-compulsory education, the major gap is in provision of services for the 0-6 age group. This policy note reviews the development status of the 0-6-year-olds, assesses the equity of access to services in light of public and private finance, and explores policy options to serve children who are denied access to services because of the lack of supply, or parents' inability to pay. The note draws from national and international data to benchmark progress and identify gaps. It uses household-level data from a survey in Hunan province to explore policy options.