(File photo)

China has at least 9.02 million left-behind children in rural areas, according to a report from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

A working guideline issued by the State Council defines left-behind children as those aged less than 16 years whose parents migrate to other cities to work. The definition also includes children living with one parent who has no custodial ability, while the other parent is away working.

Some 90 percent of left-behind children are located in central and western China, where they live separately from their parents. Some 320,000 children are currently being raised by their grandparents or friends of parents, who often devote less love and attention to the task than the children's own parents would. Some of the left-behind children do not even attend school or hold household registrations, according to the report.

The report added that 27.8 percent of left-behind children are aged between 0 and 5 years old, while 62 percent are aged between 6 and 13.

The survey was administered in March by the Ministries of Civil Affairs, Education and Public Security. These ministries, along with the supreme court and procuratorate, have vowed to improve the custody situation of all left-behind children by the end of 2017.

Meanwhile, China’s law on the prevention of juvenile criminals stipulates that minors under 16 must live with parents or other custodians.

Nearly 50,000 children die each year in China from accidental injury, most of them left-behind children. The number of crimes committed by left-behind children account for 70 percent of all under-age crime in the country, CRI Online reported.

In 2015, four left-behind siblings in Guizhou province committed suicide due to their poor living conditions.