China aims to raise average life expectancy to 80 by 2030

China aims to further improve people's health and raise average life expectancy to 80 years during the next five years (2026-2030), according to a government work report submitted Thursday to the country's top legislature for deliberation.

China's average life expectancy reached 79.25 years during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), an increase of 1.3 years over the past five years, the report said.

Life expectancy matters

According to the World Health Organization, life expectancy is one of the three basic aspects of human development. The other two are knowledge and standard of living.

The human development index (HDI), a summary measure of human development, is expressed as a value between 0 and 1. The higher a country's human development, the higher its HDI value. 

China's HDI stands at 0.797, according to the 2025 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme.

"Life expectancy is a key indicator reflecting a country's overall level of development. International experience shows that once average life expectancy surpasses 75 years, further gains tend to slow markedly. Yet China has continued to extend life expectancy by more than 0.25 years per year on average during this stage – an achievement that is far from easy," said Wang Xiufeng, a researcher from the Institute of Medical Information of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College.

The average life expectancy in eight municipalities and provinces – Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Hainan – has exceeded 80 years, Wang noted.

As of the end of 2024, the population aged 60 and above in China is 31.03 million, accounting for 22% of the total population, and the population aged 65 and above is 22.02 million, accounting for 15.6% of the total population, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

China's actions

Primary healthcare is the foundation of medical and health services. 

After years of development, China's primary healthcare system is relatively well-established. There are currently 1.04 million primary-level medical institutions providing disease prevention, health care, rehabilitation and medical services to the public, with 5.257 million primary-level healthcare workers on the frontlines, according to the National Health Commission.

"As the capacity of primary healthcare services improves, the public will be able to seek medical treatment more easily," said Zhang Chaoyang, president of the Chinese Rural Health Association. 

In terms of service models, a comprehensive health management model from disease prevention and treatment to rehabilitation is necessary, noted Zhang. 

"Precise health interventions should be strengthened to reduce the incidence of diseases, prevent severe illnesses, and ensure timely rehabilitation and long-term follow-up care after illness," Zhang said.

With the elderly population expected to continue rising during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), safeguarding seniors' health will be essential to achieving the target of an average life expectancy of 80 years.

To this end, a health-first strategy will be implemented, said Lei Haichao, director of the National Health Commission. The strategy was put forward in the Party leadership's recommendations for formulating China's 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2026-2030).

The recommendations proposed a series of measures to improve people's health, including increasing public health capacity, strengthening the disease control system and effectively preventing and controlling major infectious diseases.

As infectious diseases remain a major challenge to human health, Lei said health authorities will strengthen monitoring and early warning for infectious diseases, laboratory testing, epidemiological investigations, emergency response and medical treatment capacity building.

The equipment and facilities of primary-level medical and healthcare institutions will be upgraded, while essential medical services will be improved, including services for pediatrics, mental health, emergency medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, rehabilitation and nursing.

Lei said that long-term care insurance will be advanced, and on-demand medical services at home and home-based hospital bed services will be expanded for people with disabilities and the elderly so as to foster healthy aging.

"Putting health first is both a development goal and a support for the process of China's modernization drive," Lei said.