Silver economy refers to the sum of all economic activities to meet the needs of the elderly, including both tangible products, such as medi—cal equipment, health care products, enhancement products for life,special facilities, and intangible services, such as health, pension, cul—ture, sports, tourism and finance. Silver economy involves production,consumption and circulation and other many fields, and has diverse and complex characteristics.
At present, China has the foundation and conditions to acceler—ate the promotion of silver economy. By the end of 2022, the number of elderly people over 60 in China has reached 280 million, accounting for 19.8% of the total population. According to the data of the National Health Commission, it is estimated that by 2035, the number of elderly people aged 60 and over in China will exceed 400 million. The expand—ing elderly population has become an increasingly important consumer group. On the other hand, as living standards and social security system are improving, the elderly"s willingness and ability to consume are con—stantly enhanced, and the content and ways of consumption are gradu—ally diversified. From the consumption content, the elderly have changed from traditional physical consumption such as clothing,food, housing and transportation to service consumption such as health management, medical care, nursing service and domestic service. The spiritual consumption demand of the elderly in cul—ture, art, sports, leisure and entertainment is increasing, showing a trend of quality, diversification, personalization and conve—nience. From the perspective of consumption patterns, with the rapid growth of the elderly netizens, the online consumption of the elderly population is growing rapidly.
To grasp the development opportunity of silver economy,we should pay more attention to policy guidance. When we analyze the diversified needs of the elderly, we need to combine their physiological characteristics and consumption psychology to scientifically and reasonably design various cultural leisure,tourism, fitness and entertainment products and services. At the same time, the degree of scientific and technological innova—tion is also very important. The market is better to fully consider the functional degradation of the elderly and higher—level health needs, vigorously develop technologies and products suitable for the elderly, focus on promoting intelligent daily auxiliary products,and enhance the safety and practicality of products and services.In addition, the establishment of a perfect technical standard system for products and services for the elderly can also better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly.