China demonstrated marked progress across multiple child welfare indicators throughout 2024, according to an official statistical monitoring report released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The comprehensive assessment reveals substantial improvements in pediatric healthcare infrastructure, food safety standards, and early childhood education accessibility.
Critical mortality metrics showed consistent decline, with the neonatal mortality rate dropping to 2.5 per thousand—a reduction of 0.3 points from 2023 figures. Similarly, infant mortality decreased to 4.0 per thousand (down 0.5 points), while the under-five mortality rate fell to 5.6 per thousand, representing a 0.6-point improvement over the previous year.
The nation’s healthcare infrastructure expanded significantly, with 3,073 maternal and child health institutions and 162 specialized children’s hospitals operational by year’s end. Food safety achieved exceptional standards with infant formula milk powder passing safety inspections at a remarkable 99.88% rate.
Educational access widened as preschool enrollment reached 92.0%, a 0.9 percentage point increase from 2023. Concurrently, digital protection efforts intensified with the removal of over 5.485 million instances of illegal and harmful online content that endangered young users.
These developments reflect China’s ongoing implementation of the National Program for Child Development (2021-2030), demonstrating coordinated progress across healthcare, nutrition, education, and digital safety sectors.