BEIJING, March 9: China’s life expectancy reached 79 years in 2024, a 0.4-year increase from 2023, achieving the goals of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) ahead of schedule, with eight provinces exceeding 80 years, said Lei Haichao, head of the National Health Commission (NHC), at a press conference on Sunday. Lei also announced new initiatives to promote mental health, weight management and healthy lifestyles nationwide.
These remarks were made by Lei in response to media inquiries about the current health level of Chinese people, specifically regarding key areas of focus for promoting healthy lifestyles and the initiatives planned for this year.
Globally, China ranks fourth among 53 middle- and high-income countries, according to statistics, Lei said. When compared with the G20 countries, the average life expectancy still ranks 10th, indicating that even compared with high-income countries, China surpasses the life expectancy of 21 high-income nations. This shows the Chinese people have a good lifestyle, and it also proves that the implementation of strategies such as Healthy China 2030 has had a direct effect on improving public health.
The average life expectancy of Chinese residents increased by 1.7 years in 2024 compared with 2019, marking a significant improvement over five years, Lei said. Notably, the gap in health levels among the 31 provinces across the country has been gradually narrowing, indicating improved health equity. In addition, the three municipalities – Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai – as well as eight provinces, including Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, have all surpassed an average life expectancy of 80 years.
“The potential for further improvement in Chinese residents’ average life expectancy remains evident and highly expectable,” said Lei.
In terms of mental health services, by the end of this year, every prefecture and city will be able to establish a psychological or sleep clinic to provide more accessible mental health services to the public, according to Lei. He also noted that this year, there will be a nationwide promotion of the use of the “12356” hotline to offer mental health services and support.
Lei further emphasized the promotion of the three-year campaign on enhancing the public’s weight management, initiative to cultivate a lifestyle and habits that encourage awareness of weight management, healthy eating and active participation in physical exercise across society.
According to the Xinhua News Agency in 2024, Chinese authorities, including the NHC and the ministries of education and civil affairs, have issued a document to launch a three-year campaign on enhancing the public’s weight management.
According to a document jointly issued by 16 Chinese departments and organizations and published on the NHC’s website in June 2024, from this year on, a series of measures will be taken to see that a supportive environment for weight management is formed in China, and that the public’s awareness and techniques in weight management are significantly improved and healthy lifestyles more widely adopted over the next three years.
“NHC has enlisted Olympic champions as social ambassadors for weight management and has also developed WeChat emojis to integrate weight management and chronic disease prevention into people’s daily lives,” Lei said.
