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BEIJING, June 6-- The average life expectancy of Chinese citizens rose from 77 years in 2018 to 77.3 years in 2019, according to statistics released by the Chinese National Health Commission on Saturday. China saw a falling maternal mortality rate which dropped from 18.3 per 100,000 in 2018 to 17.8 per 100,000 in 2019, said the commission in an annual communique on China's health development. The infant mortality rate decreased from 6.1 per 1,000 in 2018 to 5.6 per 1,000 in 2019, the commission noted. According to the communique, more medical care services are available across the country. By the end of 2019, the total number of healthcare institutions nationwide reached 1.01 million, providing over 8.8 million beds for patients. Compared with the previous year, there were 1,345 more hospitals and 10,751 more community-level healthcare institutions in 2019, it added. The number of hospital beds per 1,000 population increased from 6.03 in 2018 to 6.3 in 2019, said the commission. By the end of 2019, the number of medical professionals in China had totaled nearly 13 million, an increase of 5.1 percent year-on-year, it noted. | 
