BEIJING -- China has succeeded in greatly decreasing workplace accidents and improving the effectiveness of disaster relief efforts during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), according to a press conference focusing on emergency management on Wednesday.

Fatalities due to workplace accidents in China had dropped by 28.4 percent in 2024 compared with the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), said Wang Xiangxi, minister of emergency management.

The number of major and extremely serious accidents fell into single digits for the first time in 2024, marking a 43.8-percent decrease from the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period, said Wang.

Key indicators for natural disasters all registered notable declines during the 2021-2024 period compared with the previous five-year plan period, with annual averages for affected individuals, fatalities and missing persons, and direct economic losses relative to GDP, falling by 31.3 percent, 23 percent and 34.3 percent, respectively, he noted.

Wang added that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's attempts at prevention of workplace safety accidents have been more rigorous, while its emergency response to natural disasters has proved more efficient.

In this period, the central government allocated nearly 60 billion yuan (about $8.44 billion) in treasury bond funds to enhance natural disaster response capabilities, with six regional emergency rescue centers basically completed.