China ups goal for proportion of scientifically literate citizens

BEIJING -- China aims to have over 15 percent of its population become scientifically literate by 2025, according to a new national plan for sci-tech popularization.

Released on Tuesday, the plan sets the 2025 goal at 5 percentage points above the 2020 figure. The proportion of scientifically literate Chinese citizens was 10.56 percent in 2020, exceeding the target of 10 percent set in the country's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).

Scientific literacy refers to the spirit of scientific aspiration, the knowledge of basic science and scientific methods, and the ability to apply them to analysis and problem solving.

In the next few years, China will further enhance efforts to develop a diversified investment mechanism and more education bases for science popularization, according to the plan, which was compiled by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the China Association for Science and Technology.