BEIJING, May 31 -- In 2023, the infant mortality rate and the mortality rate for children under the age of five in China saw respective reductions to 4.5 per thousand and 6.2 per thousand, decreases of 56.3 percent and 53 percent, respectively, compared to 2012, and recording the country's best levels historically, a health official revealed on Friday.

"The core indicators of children's health in China have continued to improve, surpassing the average level of middle- and high-income countries globally," said Shen Haiping, an official with the National Health Commission, at a press conference.

Moreover, there has been a 23 percent decline in the incidence rate of severe disabling birth defects such as neural tube defects and Down syndrome, while China's mother-to-child HIV transmission rate has decreased from 34.8 percent before comprehensive intervention to the current 1.3 percent.

According to statistics released at the press conference, there are now 158 children's hospitals and 3,082 maternal and child health institutions nationwide. In addition, the number of hospital beds per thousand children in the country has reached 2.7 -- an increase of 0.27 since 2015.

Shen pledged further efforts to improve the capacity of China's health care and medical services for children.