China's average life expectancy reaches 79 years in 2024: health official

China's average life expectancy reached 79 years in 2024 as a number of strategic measures have come into play in the populous country, a health official said at a press conference on people's livelihood in Beijing Sunday.

The life expectancy in 2024 is 1.7 years higher than in 2019, said Lei Haichao, director of the National Health Commission (NHC), on the sidelines of the ongoing session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's highest organ of state power, citing splendid traditional culture, good lifestyle and health strategies behind the improvement.

"In 2024, China's average life expectancy reached 79 years, up 0.4 years from 2023, achieving the goals set at the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development ahead of schedule. It should be said that it is a hard-won achievement. Internationally, if a country or region has a life expectancy of more than 75 years, generally speaking, the life expectancy will increase by an average of 0.1 to 0.2 years each year," said Lei.

"With such a health level, China ranks fourth among the 53 middle- and high-income countries we counted. Within the G20 countries, China ranks the 10th place with the average life expectancy of 79 years. And even compared with high-income countries, our life expectancy exceeds that of 21 high-income countries," he added.

Noting that the average life expectancy of eight provincial-level regions, namely, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Hainan, has exceeded 80 years, Lei said the prospects for increases in life expectancy in the future is promising.

By observing the per capita health level of 31 provincial-level regions across the country, the gap in health levels among them is gradually narrowing, indicating that health equity is also improving as the regional coordinated development strategy and the integrated urban-rural strategy have achieved positive results in the field of health care, he said.

In face of the dual challenges of infectious diseases and chronic non-communicable diseases, the NHC will continue to implement a health-first strategy, Lei said. To prevent the chronic non-communicable diseases, a healthy lifestyle, dietary habit and more physical exercises are encouraged.

Lei said the health watchdog will push ahead with chronic disease prevention, especially weight management by encouraging citizen engagement, promoting public education and providing tailored services.

Extending the average life expectancy of the population is a main task of the Chinese government.

The "Healthy China 2030" blueprint, a national strategy to improve the health of the Chinese population, set the goal of increasing the average life expectancy at birth from 76.3 years in 2015 to 79 years in 2030.

The 14th Five-Year National Health Plan raised the target average life expectancy to 80 years in 2035.

China's average life expectancy reaches 79 years in 2024: health official

China's average life expectancy reaches 79 years in 2024: health official

The Syrian government and people have roundly welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement to lift all sanctions against Syria, with many believing it will give a major boost to the conflict-ravaged country's recovery from years of civil war.

Trump announced during his visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday that he would remove the long-standing sanctions on Syria, with the Syrian foreign ministry welcoming the move as a "pivotal turning point for the Syrian people".

Another significant moment came on Wednesday when Trump held a face-to-face meeting with Syrian interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in the Saudi capital Riyadh -- marking the first encounter between a U.S. president and a Syrian leader in decades -- with the two discussing the normalization of bilateral ties.

Prior to Trump's announcement, the Syrian foreign ministry noted that the long-imposed sanctions, which originally applied to the former government, were still having a direct impact on the Syrian people and had hindered efforts to facilitate the country's post-war recovery and reconstruction.

The news of the removal of all U.S. punitive measures was immediately met with an outpouring of joy in Syria, with large crowds taking to the streets of Damascus and elsewhere in the country to celebrate.

The Syrian pound also reportedly gained in value following Trump's decision.

Ziad Arabsh, an economic consultant for the Syrian government, said the U.S. move has now cleared a major obstacle to Syria's economic recovery and post-war reconstruction efforts.

"The access of Syria to the world technology is extremely vital to rebuild the long years [of] destroyed infrastructure, and this will lead to the economy [being boosted] and help Syria in [its] reconstruction instead of sliding into fragmentation," Arabsh said in an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Damascus.

Trump's surprise announcement came on the first day of his four-day whirlwind tour across the Middle East, which has seen him visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar before he is expected to conclude the trip in the United Arab Emirates.

Trump's remarks about the sanctions relief and his meeting with al-Sharaa came at a time when the new leadership in Damascus is striving to rally international support for the country to cope with extreme challenges after over a decade of conflict and economic hardship.

Syrians welcome Trump's announcement to lift all sanctions