A press conference on people's livelihood was held on Saturday in Beijing during the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress.

Chinese Education Minister Huai Jinpeng, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security Wang Xiaoping, Civil Affairs Minister Lu Zhiyuan, Minister of Culture and Tourism Sun Yeli, and Lei Haichao, head of China's National Health Commission, answered media questions regarding the development and policy priorities in various areas such as education, health and elderly care, culture and tourism, and employment.

World's largest high-quality education system

Responding to questions on how China is working on improving the level of public education services and its future work priorities, Huai said the country has developed the world's largest and highest-quality education system, and now operates 440,000 schools at various levels, serving 280 million students and employing 18.7 million teachers.

In basic education, Huai said China has made significant strides with the preschool gross enrollment rate climbing to 92.9%, up 28.4 percentage points from before the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and notably higher than the OECD average of 84.7%.

For compulsory education, the minister said that all 2,895 counties have achieved basic equilibrium, with 572 counties reaching high-quality equilibrium by the end of last year. Senior high school education has also expanded substantially, with the gross enrollment rate reaching 92%, seven percentage points higher than that in 2012.

In higher education, Huai told reporters that China has cultivated 55 million talents during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). The gross enrollment rate in higher education has more than doubled, jumping from under 30% before the 18th CPC National Congress to over 60% currently.

To meet growing public demand for quality higher education, Huai also said the country has expanded high-quality undergraduate programs, with "Double First-Class" universities increasing enrollment by 38,000 students. Over the past five years, China has added 18 new undergraduate universities and 70 vocational undergraduate institutions, creating 700,000 additional undergraduate places.

Boosting expansion, quality of elderly care sector

Regarding the development of China's elderly care service sector, Lu said China has preliminary established a comprehensive elderly care service network covering both urban and rural areas, adding that the country has built nearly 80,000 meal assistance points for the elderly and 495,000 home-based elderly care beds, as well as completed home renovations and redesign of elderly-friendly facilities for 2.24 million households with elderly people facing special difficulties.

In the next five years, China will strive to establish a three-tiered elderly care service network at the county, township and village levels, and promote the upgrading of equipment in elderly care institutions, strengthen specialized training for elderly care service personnel and develop elderly care technology, he said.

China will improve and further implement policies and measures to proactively respond to population aging, and promote the expansion, quality improvement and efficiency enhancement of the elderly care service sector, said Lu.

The country will strengthen care services for elderly people with disabilities and cognitive impairment, and carry out visits and care for elderly people living alone and empty-nesters in villages and communities to ensure they are leading happy, healthy and socially active lives, he added.

Harnessing AI for job creation

When asked about the current employment situation in China, and the country's employment work during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Wang said China's human resources authorities are actively exploring measures to leverage artificial intelligence in creating new jobs and empowering traditional roles, while outlining a comprehensive strategy for high-quality employment growth in 2026.

Employment potential will be vigorously tapped in sectors such as the digital economy, high-end manufacturing and modern services, Wang said, adding that the government will deepen the implementation of the employment-first strategy, aiming to "strengthen guidance, expand channels, and secure key priorities" to achieve new progress in the job market, with a sharp focus on creating new jobs in emerging industries and supporting a record number of college graduates.

The ministry will launch coordinated actions to preserve, expand and improve employment. This includes increasing support for labor-intensive sectors like foreign trade, construction and hospitality to stabilize existing jobs. Concurrently, efforts will be made to tap into the employment potential of emerging fields, including the digital economy and advanced manufacturing, to create new positions amid industrial upgrading.

Booming tourism

Regarding a query on how China promotes the high-quality development of culture and tourism, Sun said China's tourism sector is booming, with domestic trips and spending throughout 2025 and during the Spring Festival holiday in February 2026 hitting record highs.

During the nine-day Spring Festival holiday from February 15 to 23, the country recorded 596 million domestic trips, with tourism spending surpassing 800 billion yuan (about $115.93 billion), both setting new records, he said.

The "experience economy" is gaining momentum, said Sun, adding that the underlying logic of the experience economy is empowering tourism with culture. China will push forward deeper integration of culture and tourism, creating new cultural brands that combine performances and sporting events with travel experiences.

Meanwhile, foreign tourist arrivals to China surged in 2025, with spending rising by 40% year on year, Sun said, noting that China continues to expand its unilateral visa-free policy, which now covers 50 countries.

Major strides in healthcare services

Elaborating on the development of China's healthcare undertakings and high-quality population development, Lei listed a set of numbers.

In 2025, the proportion of medical visits to primary-level medical and health institutions in China accounted for 52.6% of total national medical visits, Lei said, noting that these institutions had achieved increases in both the number of patient visits and their share of total national healthcare services.

More than 90% of urban and rural families can now reach their nearest medical institution within 15 minutes, Lei said.

Through continuous efforts, China has established 1.1 million medical institutions with over 16 million health workers. The number of practicing (assistant) physicians has reached 5.29 million and the number of registered nurses has exceeded 6.03 million.

More than 33 million Chinese families with infants under the age of three have received childcare subsidies, Lei said, noting that China has been providing a childcare subsidy of 3,600 yuan per year to each eligible child born after January 1, 2022, until they reach the age of three – totaling 10,800 yuan ($1,566) per child.

The average life expectancy of Chinese people reached 79.25 years in 2025, an increase of 1.32 years from 2020, Lei added.