China has over 180 million elderly citizens suffering from chronic diseases, of whom 75 percent have more than one, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).
The average life expectancy of Chinese people was 77 years in 2018, but the healthy life expectancy was 68.7 years, meaning people have more than eight years to live with diseases, said Wang Haidong, director of NHC's Department of Ageing and Health.
By the end of 2018, China had about 249 million elderly people aged 60 and above and 167 million at the age of 65 and above, accounting for 17.9 percent and 11.9 percent of the total population, respectively.
