A national health service's research shows four trends have emerged in Chinese people's health condition: people's average expected lifespan has increased; health level of children and women has improved; potential dangers exist amongst the middle-aged people; medical insurance for the aged still needs improvement.

From 1990 to 2000 the average expected lifespan of the Chinese people had increased nearly three years; death rate of pregnant and maternity and baby had dropped 3.1 percent. The epidemic situation had remained relatively stable; the health level of residents in large and medium sized cities had improved; Occurrence of chronical disease had gone up. The average expected lifespan of the Chinese people had increased from 68.55 in 1990 to 71.4 in 2000. The urban resident's expected lifespan is almost 6 years longer than the rural resident's.

Nutritious condition for children has been further improved. The height and weight of children has approached that of their counterparts in developed countries. The rate of low-weight children has dropped year after year. The weight difference between children in rural area and urban area has been reduced too. Thanks to a project to lower death rate of pregnant women and eliminate tetanus in newborns, pregnant women's death rate in 378 poverty-stricken counties in western China has decreased 28.79 percent; and the newborn's rate of tetanus has drooped 55 percent.

The diet and nutritious condition for the rural and urban residents have been improved markedly. Rate of malnutrition and nutrition deficiency has kept on decreasing. However, the improved life and quickened life rhythm have brought about potential dangers to some middle-aged residents in cities. The occurrence rate of high blood pressure in rural areas has gone up too. Urban residents above 20-year-old who suffer from diabetes have risen from 4.6 percent to 6.4 percent in big cities. About 160 million people in China has abnormal blood lipid level.

Great changes have taken place in the age structure of population. People above 65 years old have risen 1.39 percent to 6.96 in the whole population. By 2020 the ratio of the aged people will increase from 7 percent to 11.8 percent. Aged people over 65-year-old will amount to 23 percent in whole population, and thus pose a grave challenge to the medical and social assurance system.

By people's Daily Online