Objective  To examine the progress of health promotion in China′s National Demonstration Areas for Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Chronic Diseases (NCD demonstration areas) from 2010 to 2019 for promoting sustainable and high-quality development of the demonstration areas.

  Methods  The yearly reporting data from 2010 (the year of initiation of the demonstration area) to 2019 about health promotion in the 483 demonstration areas in 31 provincial-level administrative divisions across China were collected from the National Information Management System for Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Chronic Diseases. The implementation of health promotion in each of the demonstration areas was comprehensively evaluated in four aspects: create supportive environment, community participation, personal skills development, and health services reorientation.

  Results  By the year of 2019, the coverage rate of community room for health education was 91.0% and the coverage rate of community billboard for health education was 96.1% in the demonstration areas. At demonstration areas level, the mean number (25th percentile, 75th percentile) of community-sponsored class-based health education lectures in kindergartens was 6.0 (6.0, 10.0); the mean number of class-based health education lectures in primary and secondary schools was 6.0 (6.0, 10.0); the average number of mass fitness groups was 92.0 (26.0, 250.0); the mean number of volunteers engaged in health promotion was 280.0 (62.5, 1 200.0); the mean number of communities with self-management groups was 89.0 (44.5, 174.5); the average number of self-management groups was 99.0 (48.8, 204.3) and the mean number of individuals involved in a self-management group was 2 137.0 (842.5, 7 520.5); the average total number of lectures on personal health skill development was 510.0 (191.0, 1 241.0); the average awareness rate of core knowledge on chronic diseases was 63.6% (57.8%, 71.0%); the average proportion of residents with health literacy was 22.1% (17.0%, 28.1%); the average number of health instructors was 281.5 (67.8, 1 207.8) in the adjustment of health service direction. Compared to those for the year of initiation of demonstration area, significant increases in many health promotion-related indicators (the coverage rate of community room and community billboard for health education, the mean number of community-sponsored class-based health education lectures in kindergartens, the mean number of class-based health education lectures in primary and secondary schools, the mean number of volunteers engaged in health promotion, and the average proportion of residents with health literacy) were observed (all P < 0.05) for all the demonstration areas except for the areas as the fifth batch of the initiation. In 2019 for all the demonstration areas, there were significant geographically regional disparities in the coverage rate of community room and community billboard for health education, the number of mass fitness groups, the number of communities with self-management groups, the average number of self-management groups, the average total number of lectures on health education, the average proportion of residents with health literacy, and the number of health instructors (P < 0.05 for all); there were also significant urban-rural disparities in the coverage rate of community billboard for health education, the number of mass fitness groups, the number of communities with self-management groups, the average number of self-management groups, the mean number of individuals involved in a self-management group, the average total number of lectures on health education, the average proportion of residents with health literacy, and the number of health instructors (all P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  Some progress have been made in health promotion in China′s demonstration areas for comprehensive chronic disease prevention but there were geographically regional urban-rural disparities in the progress among the demonstration areas.