BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY'S RELATIONSHIP WITH SDG 5

China offers a compelling case study for SDG 5 – Gender Equality due to the country's integration of women’s empowerment into its long-term national development strategies and legal frameworks. Over the past decades, the Chinese government has established comprehensive structural policies, such as the Program for the Development of Chinese Women and the recent Outline of Women’s Development in China (2021-2030), to systematically advance gender parity across health, education, and the economy. These investments have led to substantial female participation in critical professional sectors; for instance, women now account for over 70% of the country's health workforce and represent 47% of all physicians. Gender equality has also been promoted in public life and decision-making, with women holding 32.2% of elected seats in local government deliberative bodies and 26.5% of seats in the national parliament. Furthermore, the country has introduced targeted reforms and initiatives—ranging from rural revitalization programs and financial support for women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the implementation of the Anti-Domestic Violence Law—aimed at improving women's economic inclusion, strengthening workplace opportunities, and safeguarding women's rights as part of its broader sustainable development agenda.

CURRENT CHALLENGES AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Despite significant institutional efforts, China faces several critical challenges in fully realizing SDG 5, primarily rooted in demographic legacies, structural labor and healthcare disparities, and substantial data gaps. Decades of the one-child policy, coupled with a deep-seated traditional preference for sons, have resulted in a severe demographic imbalance, leaving the country with a surplus of 17.5 million men aged 20–39 as of 2020. In the economic and social spheres, women continue to shoulder a disproportionate burden of domestic responsibilities, spending 15.3% of their time on unpaid care and domestic work compared to just 5.9% for men. This economic vulnerability is further compounded in the healthcare sector; because China's basic medical insurance is largely employment-based, women working in the informal economy, those who are unemployed, and female migrants frequently encounter systemic barriers to accessing adequate healthcare and resources.

Furthermore, tracking and addressing gender-based violence remains a significant institutional hurdle. While the government has implemented overarching legal frameworks for gender equality, laws specifically addressing violence against women score 66.7% in UN monitoring, and there are currently no official national statistics on the prevalence of such violence. Available estimates indicate that 7.6% of women have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner, highlighting the need for stronger enforcement and support systems. Overall, comprehensive gender-responsive policymaking is hindered by a broader lack of transparency, as only 22.1% of the indicators required to track the SDGs from a gender perspective are available in China. Finally, sexual and gender minorities continue to lack explicit legal protections against discrimination, often facing marginalization, stigma, and unequal treatment within healthcare and social settings.

LIST OF REFERENCES

State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China. (2022). Gender equality and women's development in China. http://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/zfbps_2279/202207/P020221103658157524273.pdf

Global Health 50/50. (2025). China gender report. https://genderhealthdata.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/China-Gender-Report-website.pdf

United Nations Development Programme. (n.d.). China: Human Development Report data. https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data#/countries/CHN

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (n.d.). China (People's Republic of). OECD. https://www.oecd.org/en/countries/china-people-s-republic-of.html

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (n.d.). SDG indicators: China country profile. United Nations. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/dataportal/countryprofiles/chn

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (n.d.). China. United Nations Human Rights Office. https://www.ohchr.org/en/countries/china

Sachs, J. D., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., & Iablonovski, G. (2025). China: Sustainable Development Report 2025. Sustainable Development Report. https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/profiles/china/

UN Women. (n.d.). China country data. UN Women Data Hub. https://data.unwomen.org/country/china

UN Women. (n.d.). China. UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/countries/china

UN Women. (n.d.). China – Results. UN Women Open Data. https://open.unwomen.org/en/country-results/CN

USEFUL LINKS

• Country report/Voluntary National Reviews

  • Gender Equality and Women’s Development in China: http://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/zfbps_2279/202207/P020221103658157524273.pdf

  • https://genderhealthdata.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/China-Gender-Report-website.pdf 

• Bibliography and UN pages about this country:

  • UNPD: https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data?utm_source=chatgpt.com#/countries/CHN 

  • OECD: https://www.oecd.org/en/countries/china-people-s-republic-of.htmlhttps://www.oecd.org/en/countries/china-people-s-republic-of.html 

  • UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/dataportal/countryprofiles/chn 

  • UN human rights: https://www.ohchr.org/en/countries/china 

  • https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/profiles/united-arab-emirates/

  • UN WOMEN count: https://data.unwomen.org/country/china 

  • UN women: https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/countries/china 

  • UN Women: https://open.unwomen.org/en/country-results/CN