China gives strategic priority to silver economy

VTV.vn - China's growing aging population is driving demand for a huge market of silver.

China gives strategic priority to silver economy

By the end of last year, the number of people aged 60 or older in China had reached 310 million, accounting for 22% of the total population. China's growing elderly population is driving demand for a huge market in the silver economy.

One report estimates that China's silver economy is worth about 7 trillion yuan (about $989 billion), and that by 2035, it could reach 30 trillion yuan, accounting for 10 percent of the country's GDP. In the first half of this year, revenue from tourism, sports and health care services, as well as cultural and entertainment activities designed specifically for the elderly, increased by more than 20 percent compared to the same period last year.

People in their 60s have benefited from China's reform and opening-up and the development of its social security system, with pensions and medical insurance providing a stable financial foundation for their spending habits, according to Lu Yuan, associate professor at the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Nanjing University.

He said they still see themselves as being in their “late middle age” and their open, youthful mindset encourages them to use consumption as a way to redefine themselves and age boundaries.

In 2024, the State Council issued a document on promoting the silver economy, expanding the concept from traditional elderly services to an "old-age preparation economy" to include people aged 50 to 60.

In October, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China approved proposals for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development, which once again emphasized the development of the silver economy and elevated it to a national strategic priority.

Source: https://vtv.vn/trung-quoc-uu-tien-chien-luoc-cho-kinh-te-bac-100251201093941546.htm