China met its numerical target for nursing home beds for its aging population, tallying nearly 6.7 million beds by the end of 2015, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Monday.

The country's 12th five-year plan (2010-2015) set a goal of increasing nursing home beds to 30 per 1,000 seniors, and exceeded that with an average of 30.3 beds per 1,000, said Feng Yaping, director of the ministry's Department of Planning and Finance.

Feng said the country will further increase the number of beds per 1,000 residents older than 60 to 35 or 40 by 2020, accelerating the development of the such care services nationwide. China has more than doubled the 3.15 million beds for seniors that it had in 2010.

"The country further increased investment in establishing senior care facilities from 2010 to 2015. Investment from the central government alone reached 10.8 billion yuan ($1.64 billion)," Feng said at the ministry's regular news conference.

Many nursing homes, especially private ones, were built over the past five years due to the government's encouragement. China has about 13,000 private nursing homes, said Zhen Bingliang, deputy director-general of the social welfare and philanthropy promotion department at the ministry.

In the next five-year plan (2016-2020), the country will encourage more small- and medium sized nursing homes and further boost cooperation between nursing homes and medical facilities, Zhen said.

As of 2014, the number of Chinese senior citizens older than 60 was 212 million. The number is expected to reach 480 million by the end of 2050.