Improved healthcare outcomes are colliding with China’s three-year population decline, testing social safety nets despite improvements in medical infrastructure.

China’s average life expectancy hit a record 79 years in 2024, edging closer to developed-nation levels as the country grapples with a deepening demographic crisis and scrambles to improve aged-care resources. In discussing the all-time high, which broke the 2023 record of 78.6 years, National Health Commission (NHC) head Lei Haichao reiterated on Monday that the country’s newborns should be expected to live an average of 80 years by 2030 – a key metric in President Xi Jinping’s “Healthy China”…

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