3,718,000 Apply for China's National Civil Service Exam
Competition Rate Reaches 98 to 1
As youth unemployment continues in China, a record number of applicants registered for the national civil service exam (Guokao), which was held for the first time since the upper age limit was relaxed.
On December 1, Yonhap News, citing China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency and Beijing Daily, reported that the written test for the 2026 Guokao was administered the previous day at about 110,000 testing sites across 250 cities in 31 provinces throughout China.
This year, the number of civil service positions available is 38,100, a slight decrease from 36,500 last year. However, the number of qualified applicants reached a record high of 3,718,000, resulting in a competition ratio of 98 to 1.
The increase in applicants is attributed to the Chinese government raising the age limit for the civil service exam from 35 to 38 years old, and from 40 to 43 years old for master's and doctoral candidates. This is the first national exam since the regulations were eased.
The number of applicants for the civil service exam has steadily increased in recent years. About 2.6 million people took the 2023 exam (held in 2022), and for the first time, the number surpassed 3 million for the 2024 exam. The 2025 exam saw 3,416,000 applicants. As a result, the competition ratio rose from 70 to 1 in 2023, to 77 to 1 in 2024, to 86 to 1 in 2025, and soared to 99 to 1 for the 2026 exam.
The actual number of test-takers at the exam sites was tallied at 2,831,000, making the effective competition ratio approximately 74 to 1.
The most competitive position was the enforcement team at the Ruili Repatriation Center of the National Immigration Administration, where 6,470 applicants vied for a single opening.
The preference for civil service jobs in China appears to have increased further due to the perception of these positions as “stable employment,” combined with the economic slowdown and real estate slump following the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a historic surge in the number of university graduates. This year, the number of university graduates in China reached a record 12.22 million, and it is expected to climb to 12.7 million next year.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, as of October, the unemployment rate among urban youth aged 16 to 24 stood at 17.3 percent, a slight decrease from the previous month but still a high level. In August, youth unemployment rose to 18.9 percent, marking the highest since the government began releasing statistics under a new standard (excluding students) in December 2023.
China had temporarily suspended the release of youth unemployment data after it soared to 21.3 percent in June last year, but resumed publishing the statistics in December of the same year, excluding middle and high school as well as university students from the count.
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