‘Elderly in China, Getting Older Before Rich’
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KITA’s report on ‘Trends in China’s Silver Industry’… pays attention to tourism, medical service and health functional
food markets -
As the
expression ‘wei fu xian lao (未富先老·getting old before rich) is popular in China, the local silver industry is becoming more
important.
According to the
report titled ‘Trends in China’s Silver Industry and Implications’
issued by the Beijing Branch of the Korea International Trade Association
(Chairman, Kim Young-ju) on July 17th, last year, China's elderly
population aged 60 or older was approximately 250 million accounting for 17.9
percent of the total population, and it is expected to reach 25 percent by
2030.
As the
income of the elderly increases and the social media (SNS) and online shopping
become vigorous, the silver industries such as related services, real estate,
finance, etc. are growing steadily. The silver market in China grew nearly five
times to 6.6 trillion yuan last year from 1.4 trillion yuan in 2010. It is
forecast to reach 14 trillion yuan in 2024.
By industry, nursing,
tourism, and other developed service markets are growing rapidly. According to
the report, the market for the elderly nursing care in China is expected to
grow by more than 15 percent every year until 2021 and silver tourism will
expand by 20 percent every year. In China, the Internet users of the elderly
aged 60 or older take up 21.9 percent (about 54.71 million) of the total. It is
far less than Japan where the elderly Internet users take up 70 percent of the
total users. In addition, since only 12.4 percent of the Chinese elderly
Internet users are shopping online, this market has a large potential.
Kim Byung-yoo, head of the
Beijing office of the Korea International Trade Association, said, “Recently, China has been actively opening its silver industry to the
private sector, providing various tax benefits and easing regulations.” He also stressed, “There still are some
restrictions on the entry of foreign capital. However, it will be a good
opportunity for Korean companies to pursue new businesses by developing various
silver products for the elderly in China.”
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