（Photo/Xinhua)

The average age of China's working population (including students) rose from 32.2 to 37.8 between 1985 and 2017, according to the China Human Capital Report 2019.

The report, compiled by the China Center for Human Capital and Labor Market Research (CHLR) at the Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE), showed that in 2017, the five provinces with the highest average working age were Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Chongqing and Hunan.

Human capital is a source of technological innovation and economic growth, an important driver of sustainable economic and social development, and an important guarantee to reduce poverty and inequality, said the report.

Since China's reform and opening up, the nation's economy has grown rapidly, and human capital is regarded as the main driving factor of "China's economic miracle."

China's total human capital in 2017 was valued at 1,934 trillion yuan (about 276 trillion U.S. dollars), including 1,587 trillion yuan in urban areas and 347 trillion yuan in rural areas, according to data calculated in the report.

From 1985 to 2017, China's total human capital increased by 10.37 times, with an average annual growth rate of 7.58 percent. In the past ten years (2007-2017), the average annual growth rate was 7.34 percent, of which the total human capital in urban areas was 8.48 percent and in rural areas was 3.66 percent.