China's State Council, in an official reply (Guo Han [2026] No. 66) dated July 2, 2026, granted in-principle approval to the 15th Five-Year Plan for Expanding Consumption. The plan was submitted by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce. The State Council instructed these agencies to organize and implement the plan earnestly.
The plan sets overall targets for the period up to 2030, aiming for total retail sales of consumer goods to reach approximately 60 trillion yuan, with a notable increase in the household consumption rate and a strengthened foundational role of consumption in economic growth. It also envisions an optimized consumption structure, with the share of service consumption expenditure steadily rising, digital consumption expanding significantly, and consumption gaps between urban and rural areas, regions, and groups gradually narrowing.
To achieve these goals, the plan outlines tasks across seven areas. In promoting service consumption, it covers sectors such as catering, accommodation, housekeeping, elderly care, childcare, culture and tourism, health, sports, education, and training. Measures include implementing quality-improving actions for service consumption, fostering distinctive hotel and homestay brands, expanding inclusive elderly care services, developing the silver economy, accelerating inclusive childcare service systems, promoting integrated cultural and tourism development, and encouraging sports event economy.
For upgrading goods consumption, the plan calls for better meeting housing consumption demand, expanding automobile consumption, supporting intelligent upgrades of home appliances and furniture, boosting agricultural product consumption, and strengthening independent brand building. It proposes cultivating a phalanx of Chinese consumer brands, protecting time-honored brands and domestic products, and advancing the 'IP+consumption' model.
Regarding new business forms, models, and scenarios, the plan emphasizes developing digital consumption, promoting green consumption, advancing the debut economy, fostering experiential consumption, and expanding inbound consumption. It pushes for deeper integration of AI with consumption, increases the production and promotion of green and low-carbon products, supports brands in opening high-profile first stores and holding debut events, upgrades consumption scenarios to be immersive and interactive, and optimizes the inbound consumption environment while expanding visa-free policies.
On the demand side, the plan aims to promote high-quality full employment, increase household incomes through multiple channels, improve social security policies, and reasonably boost public consumption. This includes steadily raising minimum wage standards, adjusting basic pension and medical insurance benefits, and optimizing childcare subsidy systems.
In terms of optimizing the consumption environment, the plan requires raising consumption quality standards, safeguarding consumer rights, creating a fair and open market, improving the multi-tiered consumption system, and strengthening consumption infrastructure. Specific actions include cracking down on short-weight and price fraud violations, deepening the cultivation of international consumption center cities, advancing county-level commerce upgrading actions, and accelerating 5G and fiber-optic network construction.
To improve the institutional mechanisms, the plan proposes cleaning up unreasonable restrictive measures, strengthening fiscal and financial support mechanisms, and implementing rest and leave systems. For example, it guarantees car purchase rights for families without a car after years of unsuccessful lottery participation, optimizes real estate policies, expands the use of housing provident funds, and fully implements paid annual leave.
The State Council's reply explicitly requires provincial, autonomous regional, and municipal governments to make expanding consumption a key task during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, strengthen organizational leadership, and tailor measures to local conditions. Relevant central government departments must refine supportive policies, while the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce will coordinate and monitor the plan's implementation. Major issues should be reported promptly according to procedures.