Statistics show that female college students have outnumbered male students for four consecutive years, Hangzhou-based Qianjiang Evening News reported on Thursday.

Data released on the Ministry of Education's website showed that in 2012, the number of female college students in China exceeded the number of male students by 647,800.

In 2012 China had 23.91 million college students on campus, 51.35 percent of whom were female.

Female college students outnumbered male students for the first time in 2009, accounting for 50.48 percent of the 21.44 million college students.

Female postgraduates seeking a master's degree have outnumbered their male counterparks for the past three years.

The report also mentioned that the number of female doctoral students has been increasing, too. In 2008, only 34.7 percent of doctoral students were female. But in 2012 that number increased to 36.45 percent.

Liu Zhengwei, a professor at the Education School of Zhejiang University, was quoted by the report as saying that the phenomenon of female college students outnumbering males is an indication of social progress.

Liu told Qianjiang Evening News that the phenomenon is common in many countries, including Asian countries and the United States.