Multidimensional Measurement and Comparison of China’s Educational Inequality

Educational equity significantly supports the creation of a harmonious society, which has become one of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations for 2030. China’s education level has greatly improved as nine-year compulsory education popularized and enrollment expanded in higher education. However, educational inequality remains a serious issue. This study explores China’s educational inequality from the perspective of regions, urban–rural areas, genders, and age cohorts by constructing and decomposing educational Gini coefficient based on the concept of relative deprivation. The results indicate that China’s average years of schooling continued to improve, and educational inequality showed a downward trend during 2000–2018. Both men and women average years of schooling in cities was higher than that in towns and village even for the youngest age cohort. The Gini coefficient difference across genders, urban–rural areas mainly relates to the oldest age cohort. The Gini coefficient in western region and villages are relatively high, whereas that in the northeast region and cities are relatively low. The gap of the Gini coefficient between cities and towns and between cities and villages is expanding. Inter-group inequality was the main source of overall educational inequality in regions, urban–rural areas, and genders. Therefore, measures should be taken to improve the education level for the underdeveloped areas and reduce inter-group inequality.