Research Outlines Healthcare Challenges Faced By Rural Residents

December 1, 2005

New research shows that residents of large cities in China live 12 years longer than rural residents, and that the infant mortality rate is nine times higher in rural areas than in large cities, according to a November 17 Beijing News report posted on the Xinhua Web site.

New research shows that residents of large cities in China live 12 years longer than rural residents, and that the infant mortality rate is nine times higher in rural areas than in large cities, according to a November 17 Beijing News report posted on the Xinhua Web site. Dr. Zhao Zhongwei, a professor at the Australian National University, presented the results of a study entitled “Establishing a Harmonious Social Environment: Reducing China’s Mortality Rate, Successes and Challenges,” at a November 16 forum in Beijing. The study showed that from 1977 to 2002, the number of doctors in rural China decreased from 1.8 million to 800,000, and the number of rural health care workers decreased from 3.4 million to 800,000. The study also found that 80 percent of the rural population lacks health insurance.

In a November 18 interview with the China Youth Daily, Yang Lixiong, a social security expert and associate professor at the People's University Social Security Research Center in Beijing, detailed the results of his research on health care in rural China. Yang found that in the last five years, the per-capita income of those living in rural areas increased 2.4 percent, while the per-capita yearly expenditure on health care services among rural residents rose 11.8 percent, making the cost of health care one of the greatest burdens for those living in rural areas.

For a further discussion of rural China’s public health infrastructure, see section III(h)-Public Health, of the Commission's 2005 Annual Report.