TOP POLICY PRIORITY\u00a0<\/p>\n
As demographic pressures mount, China is increasingly looking outward for expertise and investment to upgrade its healthcare system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chinese officials have signalled that the country is prepared to further open up its healthcare sector to foreign investors, particularly in areas such as eldercare, rehabilitation and specialised medical services.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth policymakers and investors are taken aback by such an explosive growth of the Chinese demographics,\u201d said Liu Baocheng, director of the Center for International Business Ethics at Beijing\u2019s University of International Business and Economics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cChina now has a far (older) population than before. Therefore, it needs strategic adjustment to understand such a reality. From senior homes to the tomb. There is a large potential that needs to be further tapped.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The issue is expected to be in focus as thousands of delegates gather in Beijing for the annual Two Sessions \u2013 known as \u201clianghui\u201d in Chinese \u2013 that is set to take place next week, where top leaders outline policy priorities and economic targets for the year ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Healthcare is among the key sectors foreign investors are watching closely, alongside telecommunications and education.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite its vast population, China\u2019s per capita healthcare spending remains relatively modest. Last year, it reached about 2,500 yuan (US$365) per person.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By comparison, per capita health expenditure across OECD countries averaged nearly US$6,000 in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The gap highlights substantial headroom for growth and investment in China\u2019s healthcare market.<\/p>\n
As China confronts the realities of rapid aging, building a more robust palliative care system may prove to be one of the country\u2019s most urgent healthcare priorities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOP POLICY PRIORITY\u00a0 As demographic pressures mount, China is increasingly looking outward for expertise and investment to upgrade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[36153,64,63,512,137,500,29560,254888],"class_list":{"0":"post-508049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ageing-population","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-china","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-healthcare","14":"tag-palliative-care","15":"tag-two-sessions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}