China News Service, Haikou, September 16 (Reporter Zhang Qianyi) Longevity is changing from "life overtime" to "social examination question". On September 16, the Boao Forum for Asia Global Health Forum 2026 Haikou Conference held a meeting on "Healthy Aging and the Silver Economy". The guests at the meeting reached a consensus: the silver dividend will not automatically come with the extension of life span, and health is the key prerequisite for the development of the silver economy.
Healthy aging: the first threshold for dividends
Nadia Rasheed, the United Nations Population Fund's representative in China and country director for Mongolia and North Korea, said that Asia, especially China, is experiencing population aging at a rapid rate, and the resulting pressure on medical care, elderly care and care cannot be ignored. If extended lifespan can be underpinned by health, security and social connectivity, aging can also be a source of social resilience, innovation and economic vitality.
"The foundation of the silver economy is a healthy body." Zeng Qiang, deputy director of the Expert Committee of the Chinese Geriatrics Society, advocates precise health management, early screening, early evaluation, and early intervention, in pursuit of "aging without aging."
In addition to personal health management, aging is a systematic test of institutional arrangements and social governance. Sun Da, vice president of the China Charity Federation, said that China has a large elderly population and obvious regional differences. It is necessary to implement social security and long-term care and other institutional foundations while taking into account universal accessibility; it is also necessary to develop the silver industry, activate the market, and at the same time protect low-income, disabled, left-behind and other disadvantaged groups. The power of charity can fill the gaps, build a resource link platform, and maintain the foundation of public welfare. Traditional Chinese medicine can also play a role in community elderly care and chronic disease management.
Institutions and technology: opening up “silver opportunities”
The aging of the population is reshaping health and hygiene needs, and technological innovation has provided new methods and means for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of many diseases.
Yang Wenzhuang, president of the 10th Council of the Demographic Society of China, mentioned that about 90% of the elderly in China care for themselves at home. He suggested that facing tens of millions of disabled or semi-disabled elderly people, there is still a large gap in professional nursing staff. AI and robots are expected to make up for the manpower gap, but the background of humanistic care must be maintained.
Under the gap, technology is expected to "fill the gap". Pang Jianxin, vice president of UBTECH Technology, said that embodied intelligence and humanoid robots can take over repetitive, hard, and difficult-to-break-at-night care activities, making room for "people to do things that require more warmth." But he admitted that it is still difficult for robots to perform care such as turning over and shifting. At present, they can start with companionship, reminders, cognitive training, and emotional support, and then gradually move towards care.
The industry has begun to make arrangements. Zhang Bo, deputy general manager of Guangzhou Yuexiu Health Technology Co., Ltd., judged that China’s silver economy may usher in a period of prosperity around 2030. The current elderly care industry has huge space, and the ecology of pension finance, elderly care technology, rehabilitation assistive devices, and elderly training is accelerating to form.
Participants believed that the silver hair industry is still a "slow industry" and is in the early stages of industrialization, but there is huge room for future development. Policy design, market supply and social participation must all be based on health. Only by allowing the elderly to "live longer" and "live better" can silver opportunities truly be transformed into a driving force for economic growth and social progress.
