From Xinhua News Agency (link):
China’s Ministry of Education warned Monday that there are now less than one percent of the five million professional Chinese-as-a-second-language teachers that are expected to be needed over the next five years.
The number of foreigners learning Chinese around the world is expected to hit 100 million in 2010, according to the ministry’s National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.
At a ratio of one teacher for every 20 students, five million teachers will be required, far exceeding the 40,000 working now working around the world, the office estimated.
See also “Survey: Chinese not so daunting” by Shanghai Daily (link)
