China had about 5.63 million registered nurses by the end of 2023, compared with 5.2 million in 2022, the National Health Commission said on Saturday.

There were about four nurses per 1,000 people and more than 80 percent of them held junior college degrees or higher, said Xing Ruoqi, deputy director of the commission's department of medical administration, during a news conference held ahead of this year's International Nurses Day, which falls on May 12.

More efforts are needed to provide higher-quality and personalized nursing services, meet increasing nursing demands, especially needs for nursing care targeting the elderly and old patients with chronic diseases and provide rehabilitation services, she said.

The commission launched a pilot program in 15 cities in 2021 to boost nursing services for the elderly.

Xing said that the number of nursing facilities in these regions has increased by an average of 16 percent and novel approaches such as setting up home-based hospital beds and encouraging nurses to offer door-to-door services have been rolled out.

She said more cities will be enrolled in the pilot program in the future, and the commission will increase the number of community nursing centers and step up the training of nurses specializing in elderly care.