National Health Commission: China's fundamental status as a populous country remains unchanged.

On September 14, the State Council Information Office held a press conference in its series on "Getting Off to a Good Start for the 15th Five-Year Plan," at which the National Health Commission, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, and other units introduced progress in advancing the Healthy China initiative. Lei Haichao, director of the National Health Commission, noted that China's total population is now 1.405 billion, and the country will remain a major population power in the world for a long time to come. Over the past four years, the population has experienced negative growth, but the fundamental reality of China being a major population country has not changed. Higher education is flourishing, with more than 10 million new college students enrolled each year, providing society with a high-quality labor resource. In recent years, although the number of newborns has declined somewhat, it has still remained at around 8 million. Compared with other developed and developing countries, the number of births at this level is still very small, so there will still be relatively ample labor resources in the future.