China's long-term care insurance system now covers more than 320 million people, with the fund's cumulative spending reaching 114.2 billion yuan (16.85 billion U.S. dollars), a health insurance official said on Friday.
More than 4.6 million people have received care services under the program, said Wang Wenjun, deputy head of the National Healthcare Security Administration, at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office.
To date, 22 provincial-level regions have issued implementation plans for the program, Wang said.
The scheme has been established in 121 localities, with that number expected to rise to 247 nationwide by the end of this year, he said.
As an important part of China's social security system, long-term care insurance provides care services or financial support to people who have partially or completely lost the ability to care for themselves. The scheme helps cover their basic daily needs and related medical care, easing the burden on both them and their families.
The program is also a priority under China's five-year plan for improving medical security as the country responds to its rapidly aging population. At the end of 2025, China had 323.38 million people aged 60 or older, accounting for 23 percent of the population. That figure is projected to exceed 400 million by around 2035.
China aims to have the long-term care insurance system in place nationwide by the end of 2028, according to a national plan to implement the program.
Provisions on long-term care insurance were added to the recently adopted law on healthcare security by Chinese lawmakers at a session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
The law specifies that a long-term care insurance system should be established and improved. It also stipulates that the relevant authorities under the State Council shall formulate specific measures for the financing, benefits, fund use, and supervision of long-term care insurance.
China's long-term care insurance covers over 320 million people
The ongoing China-ASEAN Expo serves as a bridge for China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to boost trade flows, helping both sides reap shared development dividends.
Scheduled to run from Sept 17 to 21 in Nanning City of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the event draws more than 3,400 exhibitors from over 70 countries and regions.
This year, Timor-Leste is participating for the first time as a full ASEAN member and a co-host of the expo, with participants noting results have exceeded expectations, bolstered by China's vast market.
"I brought 60 packages of 250-gram coffee, which would be sold out in one day. Now I'm thinking that China market is open for everybody and it's very huge," said an exhibitor from Timor-Leste.
Participants also hailed the construction of China's Pinglu Canal, which officially opened to traffic on Wednesday.
The 134.2-km-long canal runs from Hengzhou, a county-level city in Guangxi, to the Beibu Gulf, the closest maritime outlet for much of southwest China.
The canal becomes a cost-competitive river-sea intermodal shortcut connecting ASEAN producers with the vast consumer market in southwest China, said the participants.
"In the past, shipments into the southwest China usually went by sea to Guangzhou and then overlands. Too many handover made it hard to keep products fresh. Losses were high and transit time was unreliable. Now that the canal is open, we can enter [the] Guangxi [Zhuang Autonomous Region] directly from the Beibu Gulf and move on to Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan restaurants, faster onto the supermarket shelves and tables in the southeast [part of China]," said an exhibitor from Vietnam.
With the formal signing of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) 3.0 Upgrade Protocol in Oct 2025, bilateral cooperation has expanded beyond economic and trade areas to emerging fields such as the digital economy and the green economy.
"I am looking for an investor to develop agriculture and integrated tourism with us in Malaysia," said an exhibitor from Malaysia.
Economic ties between China and ASEAN have continued to deepen. Bilateral trade topped 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time in 2025, totaling 1.05 trillion dollars, up 7.4 percent year on year. In the first seven months of 2026, trade between the two sides reached 744.41 billion dollars, an increase of 24.7 percent year on year and accounting for 21.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for six successive years.
China-ASEAN Expo boosts bilateral cooperation, delivers shared dividends
