The longer people live the better they are for business

China has proposed to increase people's life expectancy by one year by 2020 - from 76.34 in 2015, though women, on average, live longer than men. The goal was one among many announced by Premier Li Keqiang over the weekend for legislators to discuss and vote on at the ongoing annual session of National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

This goal is highly achievable, and a reference to past data - included in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) - could explain why.

In 1981, the life expectancy of Chinese was 67.77 years. It took another almost 20 years to increase to 71.40, in 2000. But in 2015, that is, in 15 years, it reached 76.34. And there is no reason why the average life expectancy in China cannot increase by one year in the next five years, especially because people are expected to become richer, healthier and more educated.