Plan aims to achieve average lifespan of 80 years and tackle chronic diseases

China aims to effectively curb the rising incidence of major chronic diseases and raise the average life expectancy to 80 years by 2030, up from 79.25 years in 2025, according to a national health plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30).

The plan, recently released by the State Council, China's Cabinet, outlines the country's priorities for improving healthcare services and enhancing people's overall wellbeing over the next five years.

The targets build on steady improvements in the nation's health indicators. China's average life expectancy rose by 3.85 years over the past 13 years, reaching 79.25 years last year and ranking third among the 16 countries with populations exceeding 100 million, according to a report delivered on Tuesday by Lei Haichao, minister of the National Health Commission.

Lei said other key health indicators, including infant and maternal mortality rates, have also placed China in the top tier of upper-middle-income economies and countries with populations of more than 100 million.

However, he said the growing burden of chronic diseases in an aging society remains one of the country's biggest health challenges over the next five years.

"China has about 450 million patients with chronic diseases, and deaths from chronic conditions account for 88.5 percent of all deaths," Lei said. "Prolonged sitting, sleep deprivation, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, unhealthy dietary habits and physical inactivity are among the primary contributing factors."

To address these challenges, the plan emphasizes providing comprehensive, life cycle health services for all citizens, strengthening defenses against major public health threats, building an integrated, high-quality healthcare system and accelerating the adoption of smart and emerging technologies.

The plan calls for advancing smoke-free environments and strengthening smoking cessation services, with the goal of reducing the smoking rate among people aged 15 and above to 20 percent by 2030.

To improve fertility and childcare services, it calls for standardizing infertility diagnosis and treatment services and the application of assisted reproductive technologies, which are expected to receive broader medical insurance coverage. It also promotes labor analgesia services and calls for expanding insurance coverage for such care.

By 2030, the plan also aims to raise the enrollment rate in nursery care facilities for children under the age of three by six percentage points from 2025, helping ease the burden on families and address the nation's declining birthrate.

The plan also highlights the need to strengthen screening and early diagnosis of breast and cervical cancer, fully implement the free human papillomavirus vaccination policy for eligible girls, expand home-based medical services for older adults and improve comprehensive care systems for seniors living with disabilities and dementia.

The plan also places emphasis on improving access to healthcare. It aims to establish a 15-minute primary healthcare service circle, support secondary hospitals in expanding services in underserved areas, including rehabilitation, nursing care, mental and psychological health, pediatrics, geriatric medicine and hospice care, and continue improving the capabilities of rural clinics and community healthcare centers.

In rehabilitation and nursing care, the plan calls for strengthening the training of specialized nurses and therapists, with targets of 0.7 rehabilitation physicians and 1.6 rehabilitation therapists per 10,000 people by 2030.

To strengthen preparedness for future health threats, the plan calls for improving the prevention of and response to cross-species transmission of emerging pathogens, enhancing infectious disease surveillance, early warning and epidemiological investigation capabilities and strengthening cross-departmental coordination and information sharing.

Given the rapid development of biomedical technologies, the plan urges greater investment in research on disease pathogenesis, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical devices and brain-computer interfaces, while promoting the translation of scientific breakthroughs into practical applications.

It also calls for accelerating the approval of innovative drugs and medicines in urgent clinical demand, while stepping up research into cell and gene therapies, novel antibodies, next-generation vaccines, nucleic acid drugs and radiopharmaceuticals.

Additional support will be directed toward developing vaccines and drugs for public health emergencies, as well as high-end medical devices. Artificial intelligence will also be leveraged to upgrade the entire pharmaceutical industry chain.

As part of efforts to build a global community of health for all, the plan calls for deepening overseas medical aid missions, establishing a number of China-Africa medical centers and setting up international cooperation centers at major domestic hospitals to carry out international clinical trials, promote the application of cutting-edge technologies and expand international medical services.