(Yicai) Dec. 24 -- Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai claimed the top three positions in a Tsinghua University ranking that measures Chinese cities by residents’ health.

Nanjing and Xiamen were the other two cities in the top five, according to the Tsinghua Urban Health Index 2025 report released yesterday. The highest-ranked small and medium-sized cities were Huzhou, Jinhua, and Quzhou in eastern Zhejiang province.

The index assesses the health status of urban residents based on six indicators: health services, health industry, health behaviors, health facilities, health environment, and health utilities.

Beijing took first place for health services, health industry, and health behaviors. Shanghai and Nanjing made the top five in five of the six indicators. Shanghai had very high scores in health services and health industry.

Only Xiamen among the premier five made it into the top 10 for health environment, indicating that there is still much room for improvement in the environmental quality of the leading Chinese cities.

Each urban cluster boasts its own advantages. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region scored relatively high for health services, thanks to its high-level medical resources. The Pearl River Delta region, which includes Guangzhou and Shenzhen, held an advantage in health industry and health behaviors, with its health industry having the most patents nationwide.

The Yangtze River Delta region, which encompasses Shanghai and Hangzhou, had balanced scores across all six indicators, while its new drug research and development sub-index was much higher than that of other city clusters. The area also had a leading position in health utilities.

Moreover, all types of cities ranking top in the comprehensive health index, no matter their size, underperformed in health behaviors.

To improve that score, not only do urban residents need to improve their health awareness, but cities also need to implement supporting laws, policies, urban infrastructure, and other software and hardware facilities, Li Dong, a core member of the report’s writing team, told Yicai.

The construction of a “medical informatization infrastructure” is of vital importance to improve residents’ health behaviors, Li noted, adding that medical information infrastructure is heavily concentrated in core cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenyang, and Urumqi, accounting for half of all projects.

Health expenditure is an important secondary indicator used in the assessment of residents’ health behaviors. Big sports events and sports event intellectual properties are influencing health spending by residents and will help improve their health behaviors, according to the report.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione