BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The popularization of education at all levels in China has caught up or overtaken the corresponding average levels in middle- and high-income countries during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), the Ministry of Education announced on Tuesday.

The gross enrollment rate of senior high education reached 89.5 percent in 2019, and is followed by the ratio of pre-school education, which amounted to 83.4 percent in the same year, said Liu Changya, an official with the ministry, at a press conference.

China has made headway in higher education with its gross enrollment rate exceeding 51 percent in 2019, marking a leap from mass higher education to universal access, according to the official.

The country's working-age population receive 10.7 years of education on average, and over half of the new labor force has had access to higher education, with the average years of education being 13.7, he added.

In the same period, the number of students from rural and poor areas enrolled in key universities surpassed 520,000.