BEIJING - The health status of Chinese people is among the top in developing countries, with the life expectancy reaching 74.8 years in 2010, according to a health service white paper on Wednesday.

The white paper, titled Medical and Health Services in China and released by the Information Office of the State Council, revealed that life expectancy in China was 72.4 years for males and 77.4 years for females in 2010.

According to the document, maternal mortality rate went down from 51.3 per 100,000 in 2002 to 26.1 per 100,000 in 2011.

The infant mortality rate and the mortality rate of children under the age of five dropped from 29.2 per thousand in 2002 to 12.1 per thousand in 2011 and from 34.9 per thousand to 15.6 per thousand respectively, attaining ahead of schedule the UN Millennium Development Goals in these categories.

China's medical and healthcare systems covering both urban and rural residents are secured by four major aspects: public health service, medical care, medical security and pharmaceutical supply.

According to the white paper, the country's total health expenditure reached 2,434.591 billion yuan ($391 billion) last year, or 1,806.95 yuan per capita. The total expenditure accounted for 5.1 percent of the country's GDP.

In comparable prices, the health expenditure grew by an average annual rate of 11.32 percent from 1978 to 2011.

China's health resources have been developing in a sustained way, the white paper noted. By the end of 2011, medical and healthcare institutions around the country totaled 954,000, an increase of 148,000 over 2003.

Also, licensed doctors reached 2.466 million, or 1.8 per thousand people, up from 1.5 per thousand people in 2002. Registered nurses totaled 2.244 million, or 1.7 per thousand people, as compared with one per thousand people in 2002, according to the document.

The number of hospital beds reached 5.16 million, or 3.8 per thousand people, up from 2.5 per thousand people in 2002.

In addition, the white paper noted marked improvement in the utilization of medical and health services.

In 2011, medical institutions throughout the country hosted 6.27 billion outpatients, as compared with 2.15 billion in 2002. Some 150 million inpatients were admitted, up from 59.91 million in 2002.