National Development and Reform Commission details the "14th Five-Year" plan: five key highlights worth noting

During this year’s National “Two Sessions,” the highly anticipated “14th Five-Year Plan” Outline (Draft) was unveiled. This over 70,000-word “mission statement” charts the development blueprint for the next five years of economic and social progress.

On March 7th, the State Council Information Office held a briefing, where the National Development and Reform Commission explained the “14th Five-Year Plan” Outline (Draft). Compared to the “13th Five-Year Plan,” what new changes does the “14th Five-Year Plan” introduce? What development goals have been set? Where is the room for economic growth in the coming five years? And what tangible “people’s livelihood packages” are included? First Financial summarized five key highlights.

Economic Growth Targets Confirmed

The “14th Five-Year Plan” period holds a crucial position in the process of basically achieving socialist modernization, serving as a bridge between the past and the future. It is a key period for consolidating foundations and making comprehensive efforts.

The Outline (Draft) sets the GDP growth target as “maintaining within a reasonable range, with annual targets to be proposed as appropriate, laying a solid foundation for doubling per capita GDP by 2035 and reaching the level of moderately developed countries.”

Zheng Bei, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated in response to First Financial’s questions that this target uses a qualitative statement with embedded quantitative requirements, consistent with the Party Central Committee’s “Proposal” to “keep economic growth within a reasonable range,” and aligned with the previous “14th Five-Year Plan” Outline. It clearly emphasizes high-quality development, guiding all sectors to pursue tangible growth, creating space for transformation, structural adjustment, and reform, and supporting employment and income growth for residents.

At the same time, the phrase “doubling” reflects a stable expectation of annual GDP growth over the next decade, aligning with China’s long-term positive economic trend. “Laying a solid foundation” refers to achieving better results during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, further strengthening the groundwork for the “16th Five-Year Plan.” The Government Work Report projects this year’s GDP growth target at 4.5%–5%, with local governments setting their own targets based on actual conditions. This demonstrates a good integration of annual plans with medium- and long-term strategies, as well as local and national planning.

Enhancing People’s Well-being

Five-year plans are not only “state affairs” but also “family affairs.” The Outline (Draft) lists 20 key indicators, with the highest proportion in people’s livelihood and welfare, covering employment, income, education, healthcare, elderly care, and childcare—seven indicators in total—aiming to upgrade from “having” to “being excellent” in social security.

Liu Dechun, Director of the Social Development Department at the National Development and Reform Commission, said that public services concern the most immediate and tangible interests of the people. The country aims to achieve basic public service equalization by 2035, which is an important goal for realizing socialist modernization. The “14th Five-Year Plan” Outline (Draft) includes a series of arrangements in education, healthcare, and social security.

For example, in education, efforts will be made to accelerate the development of a resource allocation mechanism that adapts to demographic changes, increasing the average years of education for the working-age population by 0.4 years—from 11.3 to 11.7 years. The focus will be on expanding and improving quality in basic education, integrating industry and education in vocational training, and enhancing quality and capacity in higher education.

In healthcare, the plan emphasizes strengthening public health capacity, optimizing the functions and layout of medical institutions, and increasing average life expectancy to 80 years, reaching the level of high-income countries. Key initiatives include: first, strengthening healthcare infrastructure by building 1,000 county-level medical communities to meet local medical needs; second, expanding rehabilitation and nursing services, supporting city-level secondary hospitals to develop specialized services; third, balancing the distribution of high-quality medical resources by improving 125 national regional medical centers, supporting high-level provincial hospitals, and enhancing clinical capabilities to enable patients to seek major treatments within their provinces.

Cultivating Emerging and Future Industries

The new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating breakthroughs, leading to a surge of new technologies, industries, business models, and modes, providing rare opportunities for modernization.

To seize this historic opportunity, the Outline (Draft) makes dedicated arrangements for cultivating and expanding emerging and future industries, as well as digital intelligence development. The major tasks can be summarized into three aspects: phased layout, ecological cultivation, and digital empowerment.

Bai Jingyu, Director of the Innovation and High-Tech Development Department at the National Development and Reform Commission, said that first, phased layout involves building a development sequence of strategic emerging industries, emerging pillar industries, and future industries, combining near-term and long-term strategies. Second, ecological cultivation aims to create an innovation-led, demand-driven, resource-aggregated, regionally adapted, and effectively regulated industrial ecosystem. Third, digital empowerment involves leveraging computing power, algorithms, and data to efficiently support economic and social development, advancing the construction of a Digital China.

According to the Outline (Draft), current efforts will focus on developing strategic emerging industries such as new-generation information technology and new energy, building characteristic and complementary industrial clusters. Mid-term goals include developing new pillar industries like integrated circuits, biomedicine, and aerospace to form new economic pillars. Long-term, forward-looking plans include quantum technology, brain-computer interfaces, and embodied intelligence, nurturing “tomorrow’s” strategic emerging industries and “day after” pillar industries.

Building a Strong Domestic Market

A robust domestic market is a key advantage of a large economy and provides confidence and resilience in facing various risks and challenges.

The “14th Five-Year Plan” Outline (Draft) proposes to build a strong domestic market, achieve a higher level of supply-demand balance, and enhance the endogenous momentum and reliability of the domestic cycle.

Yuan Da, Secretary-General of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that in terms of supply, efforts will focus on “the missing and weak links, traditional and emerging sectors,” to improve the quality and level of the supply system. For current shortages, breakthroughs will be accelerated in key areas such as integrated circuits, industrial mother machines, high-end instruments, basic software, advanced materials, and biomanufacturing, to enhance the independence and controllability of the industrial chain.

He also emphasized that combining people’s livelihood improvements with consumption promotion is crucial. Plans will be made to increase income for urban and rural residents, steadily raise minimum wages, and increase government spending on social security. Additionally, efforts will be made to expand and upgrade consumer goods and services, unlocking the potential of service consumption.

Constructing a Modern Infrastructure System

Infrastructure is a vital support for economic and social development. The Outline (Draft) dedicates a chapter to “building a modern infrastructure system,” covering traditional infrastructure like transportation, water conservancy, and energy, as well as major technological infrastructure, information and communication networks, and computing power grids.

In terms of new infrastructure, efforts will focus on coordinated planning and efficient utilization, with systematic deployment of major technological infrastructure such as 10-gigabit optical networks and 5G-A mobile networks, constructing a nationwide integrated computing network, and developing satellite communication, navigation, and remote sensing systems. Expanding scene-based low-altitude infrastructure will support industry upgrades and digital development.

In transportation, the plan aims to improve the modern comprehensive transportation system, complete the “eight vertical and eight horizontal” high-speed railway corridors and national highway network, upgrade inland waterways, establish world-class port and airport clusters, and implement major projects like high-standard along-the-river high-speed rail, the Three Gorges waterway corridor, and resilience improvements for road safety. It also emphasizes strengthening coverage and accessibility in weaker regions and updating transportation infrastructure through renovation and maintenance.