BEIJING -- China has made positive achievements in vigorously developing higher education and eliminating illiteracy among young adults over the past 10 years, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday.

The education level of the population has continuously improved, said Ning Jizhe, head of the NBS, citing data from the seventh national census released on Tuesday.

The population who have received or are receiving college-level education reached 218.36 million. The number of people who have received or are receiving college-level education rose to 15,467 per 100,000 from the previous 8,930 per 100,000 in 2010, said Ning.

The illiteracy rate declined to 2.67 percent from 4.08 percent in the previous census conducted in 2010, while the average years of education for people aged 15 or above increased to 9.91 years from 9.08 years, according to the census.

China has conducted a national population census every ten years since the 1990s.