If Japan is the future of ageing and Singapore is a handy test-market, then ageing China is the Godzilla of markets.
China’s population is ageing fast and it is massive. In the next 6 years, the population of people over 60 in China will reach 300 million. An ageing crisis and a business opportunity in equal measure.
Despite these massive numbers, there are currently only 30,000 elderly care institutions according to this article in the Financial Times, foreign operators are rushing to China to support the elderly care industry.
Communication strategies for these new facilities need to include an element of education
Also according to the FT article, Chinese seniors had potential demand for elderly care services worth Rmb500bn ($72bn) last year, but supply fell short of that demand, according to analysts at Chinese brokerage Everbright Securities.
Companies from the USA, Japan and Australia are investing heavily in the senior living market. But it’s not simply a story of ‘build it and they will come’.
About 90 per cent of Chinese seniors rely mainly on family support, 7 per cent on residential community-based care services and 3 per cent on nursing homes, according to a Chinese consultancy.
Consequently, communication strategies for these new facilities need to include an element of education about the value of high-quality senior living.
