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The myopia rate reached 53.6 percent among children and teenagers in China, said the Ministry of Education (MOE), urging  efforts to prevent and reduce vision problems.

The myopia rate in groups of 6-year-old children, primary school students, secondary school students and high school students were 14.5 percent, 36 percent, 71.6 percent and 81 percent respectively in 2018, according to the MOE's department of physical education and art education, the China News Service reported on Wednesday.

In 24 provincial regions in China, the rate surpassed 50 percent.

Eight national agencies, including the MOE, published a plan to prevent and control myopia in children and teenagers in August 2018. The plan demanded provincial regions reduce the myopia rate 0.5 percent or 1 percent annually before 2023, the MOE said on its website.

The MOE has promoted measures in the past year, including regulating the use of electronic devices and reducing pressure related to studying.

The MOE also stressed the importance of sports, urging schools at the local level to hold outdoor activities for one or two hours per day.

The government invested 16.8 million yuan ($2.4 million) in a nationwide effort to  prevent and control myopia this year, the China News Agency reported.

Government officials from East China's Shandong Province face a penalty if they fail to reduce the myopia rate in children and teenagers, which has been added to this year's government performance appraisal, media reported in May.

In September, Beijing announced visual acuity will be counted as a "score" that will be collected and reported to the authorities in physical fitness tests on elementary and middle school students in the capital city.

The number of China's myopia patients in 2018 reached about 600 million, 40 percent of whom were primary school students, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Global Times