260 million Chinese people have been diagnosed with chronic diseases. Every minute, seven more persons are diagnosed with cancer. The 1990s generation faces bigger health challenges more than ever before. The big health data being collected in China is troubling
As “Health China” has been raised as a national strategy, Chinese citizens’ health awareness has been increasingly enhanced. More and more Chinese actively look for ways to maintain health and prevent diseases. Health-related programs, products and concepts havew become exceedingly popular among people.
However, according to the data issued by Beijing Guanghua Best Marketing Consulting Company in Big Data Report on Chinese Citizens’ Health and Nutrition, the average life span of Chinese people is 73.4 years, ranking 83rd in the world. The female average life spans is four years longer than males. Chronic diseases and cancer are the two major factors which threaten people’s health in China. Obviously, the overall health situation among Chinese citizens is not good. The eastern part of the country and the big coastal cities face even more severe situations.
The most alarming data in the Report are not those targeting middle-aged and aged people above 50 years old, but relates to intelligent adults between 30 to 40 years old. Among this group, 70% face the danger of death by overwork, 76% have sub-health conditions and 20% suffer from chronic diseases.
Generally, a chronic condition is a human health condition or disease that is persistent or otherwise long-lasting in its effects or a disease that become more serious over time. When not being healed in good time, it may cause monetary losses and also affect one’s life quality. Online materials show that nearly 260 million Chinese citizens have already been diagnosed with chronic diseases, making up 19% of the whole population.
In February 2018, the National Cancer Center of China released a report based on the data collected by China’s Cancer Registry in 2014. In 2014, there were 3.8 million new cases of cancer (2.1 million males and 1.6 million females). That means that with each passing day, over 10,000 more persons have been diagnosed with cancer. Every minute, 7 more persons are diagnosed with cancer.
The eastern part of China sees the highest morbidity of cancer, followed by the middle part and then the western part. The difference in numbers begins to shrink. In every region, there are more males with cancer than females. Lung cancer is the top cancer for males and breast cancer for females.
The Report also reveals that people in the 1970s and 1980s generations have become major groups of cancer sufferers. According to the data from the insurance industry, the average age for severe disease compensation claims is now 42 years old. It can be obviously seen that diseases have now shifted to the younger generations more and more.
This troubling data is a reflection of the poor lifestyles of modern people. Overwork, staying up late, irregular meals and lack of exercise are so common with today’s young people. The results are osteoporosis, grey hair, hair loss, dizziness, headaches, insomnia and stomach problems.
Today, the 1990s generation, namely people aged from 21 to 30 years old, have already entered the healthcare troop. Many of them say that they spend half of their monthly salary on wellness-related products and activities. They have created their own “Punk’s wellness guide”: “staying up the longest at night and using the costliest eye cream”, “wolfberry beer and ginseng cola”, “overeating on one hand and indigestion tablets on the other”. These funny slogans are vividly expressive of young people’s understanding with regard to wellness. They are fully aware of their unhealthy lifestyles. However, they still choose to live their lives to the full.
China’s online shopping platforms show that during the “11.11” of 2018, “hair loss prevention” and “anti-early aging” were the top two searching themes for the 1990s generation. Suning also released data indicating that more and more young people like to drink wolfberry water nowadays. During the 11.11 shopping spree last year, the sales volume of thermal mugs and wolfberry doubled the year before and the 1990s generation contributed to nearly 60% of all sales. Wellness concept and practice are now no longer confined to the middle-aged and aged groups, but become increasingly popular among young people.
In fact, the whole world is facing a health challenge. Based on a survey by the World Health Organization, by 2014, only 5% of all people were healthy persons, 20% had been diagnosed with different diseases and 75% were in sub-health conditions. Clearly, sub-health conditions have become normal in people’s lives today.
Health will continue to be the key word in China. People’s attention to wellness will keep rising. So the big health industry still boasts great potential for development.
