Experience from the policy of priority development of education for priority development of health: an analysis of policy documents during 1986–2025

Objective To analyze national-level priority development policies in the education sector and thus provide references for implementing China′s strategy of priority development of health.

Methods Official websites of the State Council and the National Health Commission were searched for the related documents during 1986–2025. The policy transfer theory, policy instrument theory, and literature review were employed to construct a policy analysis framework, which encompassed five first-level dimensions and 11 second-level dimensions. Content analysis was conducted in NVivo15 to code the policies for priority development of education, and a comparative study was carried out for selected outcome indicators to evaluate policy implementation effectiveness.

Results  A total of 34 policies related to the priority development of education were included, which were issued between 1986 and 2025, with an average intensity score of 3.9. Policies were issued by the State Council (27 documents) or jointed by multiple departments such as the Ministry of Education (7 documents). The priority development of education was mainly reflected in resource investment and governance systems (accounting for 70.23% combined). China′s education expenditure remained at 4% or above of GDP since 2012, and student-teacher ratios (16.06:1 in 2024) were at an upper-middle level globally. Additionally, general public budget expenditure on education (reaching RMB 4 207.6 billion in 2024) and teacher compensation (ranking 5th in average annual growth rate among 19 industries from 2012 to 2024) ranked at upper-middle levels among various public service sectors in China. Although China′s average life expectancy surpassed that of upper-middle-income countries (reaching 79.25 years in 2025), its health expenditure and growth lagged behind the global average and other domestic public service sectors.

Conclusions The notable outcomes in education demonstrate its priority development and leading position compared with the health sector. The health sector can learn from experience of education development by optimizing policy arrangements in resource allocation, organizational systems, and tilt in public policy to promote the priority development of health.