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In January this year, the head of the relevant department of the National Development and Reform Commission mentioned that the silver economy includes two aspects: "the aging economy in the old age stage" and "the aging economy in the young age stage". The insiders pointed out that the market of "aging economy" is broad, but the products and services for the elderly also need to form a certain scale and professional level, and the market expects professional forces to enter.
There are more than 4000 kilometers from Jiamusi in Heilongjiang Province to Sanya in Hainan Province. This is the distance between the two "homes" of the post-90s Xiao Meng: one is the home where she grew up, and the other is the home where she prepares for her retirement. Although she is only 30 years old, she has begun to prepare her own pension plan.
In recent years, there are not a few young people like Xiao Meng who pay attention to the pension market in advance, and other middle-aged groups near retirement age have made a lot of reserves for pension, and the participation of "pension economy" is increasing.
"Preparing for the Old" involves all aspects
Xiao Meng told the reporter that the main starting point of choosing Hainan to provide for the aged was the comfort of life after retirement. She said: "It's not a joke for northeasterners to spend the New Year in Hainan. In recent years, many relatives in their hometown have gone to Hainan as soon as they spend the winter, because the climate here is comfortable, the variety of fruits is rich, and there are many shopping tariff preferences."
In July 2023, she and her husband settled in Hainan through the talent introduction policy. Later, they spent all their time on how to continue to settle down in Hainan and make arrangements for their retirement life. During several long vacations in the first half of this year, Xiao Meng didn't go out to play, but went straight to Sanya to see the house.
Fang Hui, who lives in Changning District, Shanghai, is as busy as Xiao Meng in visiting the living environment. At the age of 52, Fang Hui began to investigate the community canteen around. "It used to be popular to call it old-age canteen, but now it is more community canteen, because everyone can come to eat. I tried several, and the cost performance is still very good," said Xiao Meng.
Although she has not reached the retirement age, Fang Hui is already planning for the elderly in advance. She said: "There are also two elderly people in their 70s and 80s. When my wife and I retire, we should not only support their elders, but also our elders. We should consider food, clothing, housing and transportation."
The current needs of the elderly will be the future needs of the young. It is not only a practical consideration of the masses to play a good "first hand" for the elderly, but also has been written into the official plan. In January this year, the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Developing the Silver Economy and Improving the Welfare of the Elderly (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions), which is the first policy document named after the silver economy in China. The head of the relevant department of the National Development and Reform Commission mentioned that the connotation of the silver economy is defined as the sum of a series of economic activities such as providing products or services to the elderly and preparing for the aging stage. Specifically, it includes two aspects: "the aging economy in the old age stage" and "the aging economy in the young age stage".
Extensive layout of relevant industries
At present, China's silver economy is about 7 trillion yuan, accounting for about 6% of GDP. A research report from the Institute of Aging Research of Fudan University predicts that by 2035, the scale of the silver economy will reach about 30 trillion yuan, accounting for about 10% of GDP. The reporter learned that many of these industries focus on products and services in the early stage.
Ms. Xu, who lives in Haidian District, Beijing, has recently been busy trying out the home decoration project. Unlike other house decoration projects, her design focuses on "the aging renovation of the home environment". According to Ms. Xu, the community added elevators two years ago, and also made aging renovation of community roads, creating many conveniences for the elderly to travel. However, the aging of the interior of the house has not kept pace. To this end, Ms. Xu inquired about a number of decoration companies, and then found the professional team for interior renovation through the network channel. Before construction, the other party did a lot of photo taking and measurement work, and specifically communicated with the elderly and family members about the specific transformation needs.
At the same time, the other party also mentioned to Ms. Xu the upgraded version of intelligent home renovation, which made her more excited. "For example, the beds of the elderly are replaced with intelligent monitoring machines, so that if the elderly stay in bed for too long or wake up too long, we can all receive reminders, and can also record sleep quality, body data, etc." Ms. Xu also admitted to reporters that the cost of purchasing these equipment is relatively high, so we can only do spatial transformation for the time being.
It is also the key point mentioned in the above Opinions in promoting the aging adaptation reform to carry out the aging adaptation reform at home, encourage the installation of elevators in old residential areas, and equip intelligent safety monitoring equipment in families. The document stressed that it is necessary to focus on diversified needs and cultivate potential industries, including a series of measures such as strengthening the innovation of elderly care products, creating a new business model of intelligent health care for the elderly, vigorously developing the industry of rehabilitation aids, developing anti-aging industries, enriching and developing financial products for the elderly, and expanding tourism services.
The market expects professional force to enter
According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2023, China's population aged 60 and above will exceed 290 million, accounting for 21.1% of the national population, of which the population aged 65 and above will exceed 210 million, accounting for 15.4% of the national population. This not only means that the "old age preparation economy" has a broad market, but also requires products and services for the elderly to form a certain scale and professional level.
In various pension scenarios under the "9073" pension pattern, the demand for accompanying medical services is growing due to the difficulties of many elderly and solitary elderly in seeking medical care. The shortage of professional talents is a problem that needs to be solved urgently. On April 19, the 2024 Shanghai Elderly Care Service Attendant Training was held in Shanghai Open University, mainly for community staff engaged in elderly care services, including social workers, nursing, management and other positions.
It is understood that on the basis of the first round of training courses last year, the content of this training course has been updated and improved accordingly. In the basic knowledge section, the physiological characteristics of the elderly and the courses related to risk prevention of accompanying diagnosis have been added; In the professional skills section, courses related to basic skills of medical first aid have been added; In addition, it also improved the accompanying practice teaching, including the whole process of accompanying practice drills and skills such as vital sign observation, holding and moving.
The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Non academic Education of Shanghai Open University told the reporter that the proportion of the elderly population in Shanghai is increasing at present. The school has carried out training for assessors, carers, nurses, attendants, etc. for the elderly care cycle, which is divided according to different service stages. At present, the school is drafting two group standards, namely, "Requirements for Accompanying Physicians' Professional Skills" and "Standards for Accompanying Physicians' Services", which will be released to the public this year. It will put forward detailed requirements for the comprehensive quality, training content, service requirements, etc. of the accompanying clinicians, with a view to promoting the professionalism and standardization of accompanying medical services.
Just as Ms. Xu encountered in the early stage of the household aging renovation, in the more subdivided field of "aging economy", the professional strength of relevant practitioners is still insufficient, and consumers are also difficult to accurately find satisfactory product providers. From the perspective of demand, Ms. Xu believes that "when more products and services are provided, our consumers will have the choice and comparison, and the price will become more reasonable."
