The 15th Five-Year Plan, officially the 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China, is a set of goals for national economic development. The plan, abbreviated 15-5, covers the years from 2026 to 2030.
Drafting A preliminary study for the plan by the National Development and Reform Commission took place on 17 and 18 December 2023. According to Arthur Kroeber, speeches before drafting the new plan emphasized new quality productive forces, disruptive innovation, and a new national system for coordination.
The fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, held on 20 to 23 October 2025, focused on assessing the previous 14th Five-Year Plan and considered the proposed 15th five-year plan. On 24 October 2025, Premier Li Qiang chaired a special meeting on the preparation of the outline of the 15th Five-Year plan, with Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang being present. On 3 November 2025, CCP General Office Director Cai Qi published an opinion piece in the People's Daily, where he stressed the "extreme importance of exercising full and rigorous party self-governance to achieve the economic and social development goals of the 15th five-year plan period".
On 27 February 2026, the CCP Politburo held a meeting to discuss the draft outline of the plan, which the State Council intended to submit to the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress for review. The National People's Congress subsequently reviewed the draft outline. It was approved by the NPC on 12 March 2026.
Details The plan seeks to achieve basic socialist modernization. It has six main principles "upholding the party's overall leadership; putting people first; ensuring high quality development; upholding comprehensive and in-depth reform; implementing state market balance to form an economic order that is 'flexible' and 'well managed'; and balancing security and development." This means pursuing high-quality development over pure growth. This development can be measured through labor and capital productivity. For the period, 4.5-5% gross domestic product growth is expected. Compared to the 14th Five-Year Plan, the 15-5 puts more emphasis on supporting businesses and less on supporting an equal distribution of wealth.
15-5 highlights a need to secure the critical supply chains for products with both civil and military applications. The central committee has stated that China must "maintain a reasonable proportion of manufacturing" and support "optimizing and upgrading traditional industries". General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping stated, "real economy cannot be lost". These statements indicate that China's future economic planning will not disregard the manufacturing sector.
Green technologies such as solar power and electric vehicles, and the accompanying rare-earth supply chains have been successful in China. In 15–5, Beijing aims to support similar policies for advanced semiconductors, biotechnology, and quantum technology.
Other efforts focus on improving China's financial strength. Reforms intended to achieve this goal include "advancing the Chinese currency's internationalization, pursuing greater openness of the capital account, and building a homegrown, risk-controllable cross-border renminbi payment system." The plan encourages adoption of more flexible regulations.
Another aspect of the 15-5 is an emphasis on improving social support systems for vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities. One example of this initiative is the opening of a "silent café" that employs deaf workers inside a government office in Huai'an.
Key indicators The following targets were set under the plan: +Key indicators of economic and social development during the 15th Five-Year Plan periodCategoryIndexAttributive2025 Baseline2030 GoalEconomic developmentGDP growthIndicative—Maintain in a reasonable rangeLabor productivity growthIndicative—Higher than GDP growthUrbanization rate of permanent residents (%)Indicative67.971InnovationAverage annual R&D expenditure growth (%)Indicative—7.1High-value innovation patents per 10,000 peopleIndicative15.3>22Share of value added of core digital economy industries in GDP (%)Indicative10.212.5People's livelihoodand welfareSurveyed urban unemployment rate (%)Indicative5.2<5.5Growth of per capita disposable income (%)Indicative—In line with GDP growthAverage years of schooling of working-age populationBinding11.311.7Licensed physicians per 1,000 peopleIndicative3.23.7Registered nurses per 1,000 peopleIndicative3.95.1Share of nursing-type beds in elderly care institutions (%)Indicative6273Increase in childcare enrolment rate for children under 3Indicative— +6%Life expectancyIndicative78.680Green ecologyReduction in CO2 emissions per unit of GDPBinding— -17%Share of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption (%)Binding20.825PM2.5 concentration in prefecture-level and above cities (pg/m3)Binding29.8<27Share of surface water reaching Grade III or above (%)Binding8385Forest coverage rate (%)Binding24.125.8SecurityComprehensive grain production capacity (million jin)Binding1.39>1.45Total energy production capacity (billion tons of standard coal)Binding4.85.8
See also Five-year plans of China China Shock 2.0 Five‑Year Plan (Hong Kong)
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