China vows to raise average life expectancy

BEIJING -- China has pledged to further increase people's average life expectancy by around one year at the end of the country's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) on the 2020 level.

It also promised to significantly improve the capability of public health services, bring some severe diseases under control and to an end, and continue to improve the quality of medical services, said a plan for national health during the 14th Five-Year Plan period released by the State Council.

Continuous efforts will be made to enhance the capability to support medical and health services and develop health industries. The policy system for national health will further improve, said the document.

The focus in developing the medical and health sectors will shift from disease treatment to people's health maintenance, said the document. It pledged to provide people with comprehensive health services throughout the health continuity.

Chinese people's average life expectancy was 77.93 years in 2020, according to official statistics.