China’s aging population a new gold mine for economy

A 77-year-old lady dances during her livestream at her home in Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province on February 15. Photo: CFP

As a manager of the Shaanxi China Travel Service Company, based in Xi’an, Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, Zhou Jincan has been busy accepting customers after the Spring Festival, as a series of travel packages were introduced specifically to the elderly travelers. “Elderly-care tourism has become a trend in recent years since these people have a lot of time and money after retirement. ” Zhou explained.

His company provides the senior packages to the warmer southern cities in winter and to the cooler northeastern cities in summer. Since a lot of old people don’t dare to take airplanes, the company also chartered a train, said Zhou. “The trains have been converted into sleeper trains and have special medical personnel,” he added. This is just one example of how the growing population of elderly people in China is opening up new possibilities for many businesses.

A report jointly released by Peking Union Medical College and the Chinese Aging Well Association shows the population above 80 in China will soar rapidly from 2025 to 2050. Another report released by chyxx.com, an online platform that provides industrial information, predicts the senior population in China will reach 300 million in 2025, adding that China will be one of the countries with the biggest potential in the so-called “silver industry,” as the consumption potential by elderly people in China will hit 106 trillion yuan ($15.5 trillion) in 2050 compared to 4 trillion yuan in 2014. The report also shows that more than 96 percent of elderly Chinese prefer to live at home instead of nursing homes. Anxin Pension, a Beijing-based construction engineering firm, has profited through essential services for the elderly. The company provides these people with a safer living environment by remodeling their houses to avoid catastrophic accidents such as falling down. “Handrails have been installed in the corners and the floors are non-slippery now, which really works,” an old lady surnamed Liu, who lives in central Beijing, said she never slipped after her apartment was remodeled by staff from Anxin Pension.

The company’s remodeling work involves physical condition evaluation, in-house planning, construction, and follow-up services. Kong Yue, head of the team, said that for his elderly clients, remodeling serves as a precautionary measure. For the seniors who are physically inconvenienced or need to be cared for, professional remodeling can greatly improve the quality of their daily activities, according to the Beijing Evening News. Over the past two years, the young team has carried out remodeling for elderly clients in more than 1,800 houses in Beijing. According to the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, the city launched an elderly-approachable remodeling project for financially challenged families in 2016, and a total of 4,682 houses and apartments had been remodeled by the end of 2017. The project will be incorporated into the social welfare system in the near future.

By Li Lei

(People’s Daily)