College-Age population Decline in developed Countries

The college-age (18-23) population has increased termendously through out the world, but in some developed states it declined.

Japan’s college-age cohort has decreased from 11.5 million to about 8 million since 1995.  is expected to decline to just over a projected 7 million in 2020. 

The college-age cohort in the EU decreased from about 16 million in 1980 to 13 million in 2000 and is projected to be basically flat through 2020.

China’s One Child policy and various political upheavals produced a college-age cohort that oscillated enormously over two decades, swinging from 110 million in 1980 to 155 million in 1990 and then back to 116 million by 2000. After rebounding to 137 million in 2010, it is projected to decline further to 109 million in 2020.

The U.S. college-age population has trended slightly upward since 1995 after declining from 26 million in 1980 to a low of 22 million and is expected to increase slightly.