On January 15, 2024, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Developing the Silver-haired Economy to Improve the Well-Being of the Elderly”, proposing 26 measures in 4 aspects. This is China’s first policy document named after the “Silver Economy”.
Silver-haired economy, also known as the elderly economy, is the sum of a series of economic activities such as providing products or services to the elderly and preparing for the aging stage. It involves a wide range of areas, a long industrial chain, diverse business formats, and huge potential.
At present, China’s silver-haired economy is in a stage of accelerated development. Industries in the field of elderly care products, such as chronic disease drugs, elderly care-related medical devices, health food, special medical food and even cosmetics industries, continue to mature and the overall market scale continues to expand.
On January 17, the State Council released China’s population data for 2023. At the end of 2023, the population aged 60 and above was 296.97 million, accounting for 21.1% of the national population, an increase of 16.93 million from the previous year, an increase of over 100 million people (102.6 million people) from 2012, an increase of more than half (52%) in 11 years. The increasing degree of aging has brought severe challenges to society and families. The silver-haired economy will increase from current 7 trillion yuan to 30 trillion yuan in 2035, an increase of 3.3 times in 12 years. Its proportion of GDP will also increase from the current 6% to 10% in 2035.
The aging of China’s population has created many opportunities in the pharmaceutical market, such as medicines, health foods, rehabilitation devices, etc. Health is an unavoidable issue in an aging society. The concept of “silver-haired economy” is also closely related to many industries such as medical care, medicine, medical device, and health care. The following is a summary of excerpts involving medical industry from the “Opinions”:
(1) Construction and Development of People’s Livelihood Undertakings
(Opinion 2) Expand Home-based Elderly Care Services
It is important to encourage elderly care institutions, housekeeping companies, and property service companies to provide door-to-door home care services, and support the development of various business formats such as community bathing points, mobile bathing vehicles, and household bathing assistance. It is imperative to cultivate and develop professional elderly care agencies, support sharing resources with elderly care institutions, and expand care scenarios. Retail service providers, social work service agencies, etc. should be encouraged to expand their service functions for the elderly and provide services such as daily necessities purchasing, housekeeping appointments, collection and payment, and registered medicine collection.
(Opinion 4) Optimize Health Services for the Elderly
We should strengthen the construction of geriatric medicine departments in general hospitals and traditional Chinese medicine hospitals to improve the level of prevention and treatment of geriatric diseases, and promote the transformation of scientific research results in the field of geriatric health. It is necessary to accelerate the construction of rehabilitation hospitals, nursing homes (centers, stations), and hospice care institutions, strengthen the capacity building of rehabilitation nursing and health management in grassroots medical and health institutions, encourage the expansion of integrated medical and nursing care services, and promote the construction of age-friendly medical institutions. We should encourage medical institutions to extend rehabilitation services to communities and families through day rehabilitation, home sickbeds, home visits, etc., support the development of elderly rehabilitation assessment, rehabilitation guidance, rehabilitation follow-up and other services, and expand the coverage of family doctor contract services. It is important to expand the application of traditional Chinese medicine in the field of health care, develop traditional Chinese medicine services such as prevention and treatment of geriatric diseases and chronic diseases, and promote the research and development of traditional Chinese medicine rehabilitation devices.
(Opinion 5) Improve Elderly Care Services
It is imperative to guide local governments to implement differentiated subsidies for ordinary beds and nursing beds in nursing homes, increase the construction and renovation of elderly care institutions, improve the care and service capabilities of disabled elderly people, and appropriately add special care areas for the elderly with cognitive disabilities. We should promote the adjacent construction and resource sharing of medical and health institutions and elderly care institutions, establish a service referral and connection mechanism among home, community and institutional elderly care.
(2) Focus on Diverse Needs
(Opinion 14) Strengthen Innovation in Elderly Products
We should strengthen the research and design of clothing fabrics, style structures, auxiliary devices, etc. that are suitable for aging, and develop functional clothing, shoes and hats for the elderly. It is important to encourage the development of health food and food for special medical purposes suitable for the chewing, swallowing and nutritional requirements of the elderly, and implement actions to promote high-quality development of the home furnishing industry, focusing on the development and application of daily products suitable for aging and leisure care products for the elderly. Besides, we should improve the product promotion catalog of products for the elderly, conduct timely evaluation and make dynamic adjustments, and guide vehicle manufacturers to develop models that meet national technical standards and meet the barrier-free travel needs of the elderly.
(Opinion 15) Create a New Business Format for Smart Health and Elderly Care
It is imperative to improve the promotion catalog of smart health elderly care products and services, promote the integrated application of new generation information technology and smart devices such as mobile terminals, wearable devices, and service robots in elderly care scenarios such as homes, communities, and institutions, and develop smart products in health management, elderly care monitoring, and psychological care. In addition, the application of smart nursing robots, home service robots, smart anti-lost terminals and other smart devices should be promoted, and the use of virtual reality and other technologies to carry out display experiences of elderly products and services should be encouraged.
(Opinion 16) Vigorously Develop the Rehabilitation Assistive Device Industry
It is important to promote the upgrade of traditional function-compensating rehabilitation auxiliary devices such as hearing aids, orthotics, crutches, and prostheses, and develop life care products such as smart wheelchairs, lifts, and rehabilitation care beds. Expand The supply of devices such as cognitive impairment assessment training, incontinence rehabilitation training, medication and care reminders, and sleep disorder intervention should be expanded.
(Opinion 17) Develop the Anti-aging Industry
We should deepen research on skin aging mechanisms, human aging models, human hair health, etc., and strengthen the research and development applications of genetic technology, regenerative medicine, laser radio frequency, etc. in the field of anti-aging, promote the in-depth integration of biotechnology such as genetic testing and molecular diagnosis with the delay of geriatric diseases, and develop early screening products and services for geriatric diseases. It is important to promote the research and development, formula and production process design and development of cosmetic raw materials.
(3) Strengthen Factor Protection
(Opinion 21) Strengthen the Application of Scientific and Technological Innovation
Focusing on key areas such as rehabilitation assistive devices and smart health and elderly care, a number of forward-looking and strategic scientific and technological research projects will be planned. It is important to support scientific research activities in the silver-haired economic field through central fiscal science and technology plans (special projects, funds, etc.) to improve the level of independent research and development. Besides, it is necessary to increase special support for the silver-haired economy through high-quality industrial development and the development of strategic emerging industries.
(Opinion 24) Promote the Construction of Talent Teams
We should support and guide general universities and vocational colleges to add majors related to the silver-haired economy based on their own advantages and social needs, and reasonably determine the enrollment scale of gerontology, pharmacy, elderly care services, health services, nursing and other majors. It is important to encourage the development of vocational skill level training and evaluation such as elderly care, and support school-enterprise cooperation in building an industry-education integrated training base. We should conservate the human resources of the elderly and support them in participating in civilized practices, charity, volunteer services, science, education, culture and health and other undertakings.
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