Demographic shift fuels growth in China’s elderly care, insurance sectors
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China is undergoing a profound demographic shift, with its population ageing at a pace and scale unprecedented globally, and the trend has opened up significant opportunities for elderly care and insurance sectors.
“This massive and rapidly expanding elderly population should be a major consumer of healthcare services and therapeutics,” Citi Research analyst John Yung said in a report in late March. “The healthcare demands are rigid, long-term and diverse.”
Age-friendly products are rapidly expanding beyond traditional categories into niche segments, fuelling explosive growth in elderly care demand, according to a report from Tmall, Alibaba Group Holding’s e-commerce platform.
More companies have rolled out products suitable for elderly consumers. In the first two months of the year, the supply of senior-friendly bathing products rose more than 90 per cent year on year, while that of senior-friendly furniture tripled, according to Tmall.
“In the next few years, the market will provide a rich array of standardised senior-friendly products and services, and age-friendly design will become a standard feature, just as commonplace as choosing a chair or a mobile phone today,” said Dong Yi, general manager of home decoration at Tmall.
Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.