Analysis Of Elderly Care In Consumer Demand And Purchasing Power

Almost all developed countries had been elderly-oriented society by the end of20th Century, and China formally entered the aging society in2000. With theincreasing elderly population, the silver-haired consumer market will graduallybecome a new economic growth point to promote the prosperity of our aging society.However, long-term care services are an important part of the elderly expenditure.From the practical experience of the OECD countries, the elderly care industry hasentered a golden period of rapid development, becoming an important factor fordriving consumption and solving employment. For these reasons, the analysis of thefuture potential consumer demand of elderly care service and the actual purchasingpower will have important policy and practical significance.Around this core issue, this study intends to adopt international comparativemethod and quantitative analysis. Using the data of China Health and RetirementLongitudinal Survey, we can calculate the probability of disabled elderly by agegroup. On average,16.37%more than60-year-old elderly are disabled in China in2011. With the rapid growth of the aging population, we expect the amount ofdisabled elderly in2030will reach5744million, which will produce up to2.1trillionRMB of the huge elderly care services demand, accounting for1.65%of the GDP,while will also be a corresponding create4.26million jobs.However, the elderly’s low-in-come, low-consumption phenomenon at this stagecannot convert the huge demand to actual purchase. The historical data show that themain source of livelihood of the country’s aging population is family members’support, labor income, as well as pension. But even for the urban elderly, the averagepension can only cover about76%of the daily living expenses. The increasinglyexpensive in care services becomes a heavy financial burden.The view from the experience of developed countries, the social care insurance isone of the effective policy tools to address the lack of purchasing power of the elderly.Compared to the developed countries’ population aging schedule, we have been at thecritical moment to adjust our elderly care policy.