F REIGN TRADE - 中国国际贸易促进委员会

China’s Aging PopulationBrings Opportunitiesfor InsurersBy Richard ZhuThe rapidly aging populationin China is a greatchallenge for the country’sdevelopment and socialsecurity system, while it presents opportunitiesfor insurance companies,according to a recent report by TheBoston Consulting Group (BCG)and Swiss Re.“Insurance companies must developa concrete plan for where andhow to participate to take advantageof the challenges and opportunitiesof aging,” said the report.The aging populationAging is a global phenomenon,and China is no exception. For decades,China has benefited from a“demographic dividend.” Its robustpopulation structure has driven aprolonged period of socioeconomicgrowth. However, as China’s workforceages and moves towards retirement,the country will join manyothers in facing up to the challengesof supporting an aging population,said the report.Over the next five years, thegrowth of China’s workforce, whichhas long contributed to the expansionof the country’s booming economy,will finally slow down and eventuallybecome negative. The workingage population will peak in size in2015 and then begin to decline.Indeed, the silver segment isgrowing fast in China. By 2050, thisgroup will represent more than onethirdof the country’s total population,an eye-popping 439 millionpeople, a far greater number thaneven in Japan, another nation facingsevere demographic shifts.“By 2050, China will be most‘aged’ among BRIC countries with amuch larger 60-and-over populationsize,” said Robert Wiest, President ofSwiss Re China.The scale of China’s aging populationis much greater than that ofother RDEs. The silver segment as apercentage of the total population willnearly triple from the current 12 percentto 34 percent by 2008, a muchhigher increasethan those forecastfor other BRICcountries and far exceedingthe estimated increase indeveloped countries.In China, as elsewhere, theaging population is driven by bothlower fertility rates and increasedlongevity. Life expectancy at birthincreased from under 45 years of agein 1955 to 73 years of age in 2010,a level approaching that of developedcountries. Four specific factorsare responsible for the fact that theimpact of aging in China will beparticularly severe: the rise of themiddle class, the “One Child Policy”,the 4-2-1 (four grandparents, twoparents, one child) family structureand urbanization.Overall, the report pointedout that China’s aging populationwill have three major implicationsfor companies and for the country’seconomy:Historically, China’s economic48