ACF primarily assists poor children, especially the children of migrant workers, including left-behind children and migrant children.

• Left-behind children: In a research report on left-behind children in rural China, the All-China Women's Federation defined left-behind children as minors below 18 years old who are left in their birthplaces by one or both parents working far-away from home and rarely spending time with them.

• Migrant children: All China Women's Federation's research group on China's migrant children defined migrant children as "migrant population below 18 years old."


Group size

As to the total number of children of migrant rural workers, there are several widely accepted estimations:

• 58.61 million: All-China Women's Federation's research team on left-behind children released a report in April 2008. Using data from the 2005 National 1% Population Sample Survey, the research team estimated that the number of left-behind children to be 58.61 million.

• 25.25 million: The number of migrant children is 25.25 million, according to estimation based on the 2005 National 1% Population Sample Survey.


Challenges faced by children of migrant rural workers

Because of China's rural-urban dichotomy, children of rural migrant workers are a vulnerable group. They mainly face the following problems:

Malnutrition

In 2011, China Development and Research Foundation released a research report on the nutritional status of students in poor rural areas. The report pointed out that the nutrition intake of children in poor areas in central and western China are seriously inadequate:

• 12%: 12% of the surveyed students suffered from growth retardation;

• 72%: 72% of the surveyed students reported feeling hungry in class;

• 11cm and 9 cm: The height of surveyed male and female boarding students was respectively 11cm and 9cm below the average of rural students in China.

Psychological problems

In 2005, Education Exploration magazine published an article on The Psychological Problems of Left-behind Children and Intervention. The article showed that:

• 28.8%: Among the 271 surveyed left-behind children, 28.8% had minor psychological problems;

• 20%: Left-behind junior middle school students were 20% more likely to have psychological problems than their peers.

Education Problems

• 4.35%: 4.35 percent of school age migrant children below 15 years old did not receive compulsory education, said a Report on the Latest Status of Migrant Children in China published in 2008 by Duan Chengrong and Yang Ge in Population and Development Research Center of Renmin University of China.

• 9.04%: The report published by Duan Chengrong and Yang Ge also showed that 9.04% of migrant children aged between 15 and 17 did not complete the nine-year compulsory education.

• 3.9%: A 2008 report on migrant children based on a survey in 12 provinces and cities showed that 7.4% of non-left-behind children were enrolled in high school and higher institutes of learning, whereas only 3.9 % of left-behind children were enrolled in high schools or higher institutes of learning.