Government and Policy

Beijing issues first residents' health report

By Zhang Jiawei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-05-14 14:08

The Beijing municipal government will issue a report detailing its residents' health conditions in 2009 on Friday, the first of its kind after the founding of New China in 1949, the Beijing News reported, adding such reports will be issued every year in the future.

The newspaper cited the report as saying Beijing residents' average life expectancy was 80.47 years in 2009,?seven years higher than the country's average level. For residents aged between 18 and 79, 30.3 percent suffered from hypertension and 8.6 percent suffered from diabetes, both of which were the highest in the country.

The report also showed Beijing children's height growth has been slowing down year by year, while their weight increased at an accelerated speed.

Zhao Tao, associate counselor with the Beijing municipal health bureau who was in charge of the report, said the aim of issuing the report was to inform the public of Beijing residents' health conditions and alerting the government to its citizens' health conditions.

In the future, the survey for compiling the report will be conducted in every district and county, and the results will likely be used as an indicator of local governments' performances, Zhao said.

The report currently only covers residents with Beijing hukou (residence permits), but will cover all Beijing residents in the future, according to Zhao.