China has reported a second consecutive decline in the number of students sitting the country’s national university entrance exams, reports the South China Morning Post. This comes as a graduate jobs crunch leads many teenagers to decide against pursuing an academic degree.
A total of 12.9 million students have registered for this year’s National Higher Education Entrance Examination–known as the gaokao in China–down 450,000 from a year ago, according to data from the Ministry of Education. In 2025, the number of sign-ups fell by 70,000 compared with the previous year.
For decades, the gaokao has been known for being brutally competitive, with families often viewing the test as having the potential to make or break a young person’s future. But attitudes are beginning to change as millions of university graduates struggle to secure jobs amid China’s economic slowdown, according to market observers.