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Mandy Zuo

Even though he was an experienced swimmer and a medical check-up showed he had no condition that made exercise unsafe, 66-year-old Zhao Xin said he was stopped by staff at a local swimming pool from swimming with his grandson because of his age.
“The pool’s staff said it wasn’t able to mitigate the risks of exercise for older people, and that if it admitted swimmers over 65, local authorities would penalise it,” Zhao said.
“After I retired, I found that many times I want to spend money but am simply not allowed to,” said the former accountant from China’s eastern Zhejiang province.
It is these energetic retirees like Zhao who are propping up China’s persistently lacklustre consumption in recent years. From rail travel to purchases of digital devices and cars, spending by China’s older cohort has seen rapid growth recently, research shows.
Zhao was born in 1960, during China’s Great Famine, which was followed by a baby boom in the decade after. That cohort is now entering peak retirement age of 60 to 70, bringing enormous consumer momentum, while also putting pressure on pension funds.
As a growing group of newly retired people are contributing an increasing share of consumer spending in the slowing Chinese economy, some researchers are calling for less of an age bias in society – as senior citizens deprived of access to social engagement and services because of their age.

This is a major obstacle hindering the development of China’s silver economy, which is the “new engine” of future growth, they said.
Zhou Hong, an expert at the Shanghai Association for Elderly Care Services and the Senior Care Industry, noted that over 20 million births took place per year during the baby boom, and that the generation was now entering a life stage with leisure time, energy and money to spend. These people represent huge potential to fill off-peak gaps at venues from shopping malls to theatres, he argued, to support China’s overall consumption.
Zhou warned that there was a widespread stereotype of older people in society, equating them with “high risk” or “objects of care”.
Age bias against senior citizens not only existed when it comes to gym memberships and air travel, he said, but also in employment. In a recruitment annoucement last year, the Shanghai Bar Association’s said it only would accept experts below 60.
“This habitual age discrimination not only limits the scope of life for older adults, but also leads to a serious mismatch between supply and demand in the silver [economy],” Zhou said at a forum on the silver economy at NYU Shanghai last week.
In the first quarter of this year, older consumers’ spending on digital devices and rail travel grew by more than 200 per cent and more than 500 per cent year-on-year, respectively, Zhou said, quoting data from UnionPay.
Big-ticket car purchases by older people, increased by 37 per cent year on year, compared with a 17.4 per cent year-on-year decline in China’s total passenger car retail sales over the same period, he said.
China has been grappling with weak domestic consumption in the past couple of years. Latest official data showed that last month, retail sales – a major gauge of consumer spending – grew by 0.4 per cent year on year.

To take better advantage of older talent and ease pension pressure, authorities have been gradually raising the statutory retirement age as the population ages. Starting in 2025, the retirement age for men rose from 60 to 63, from 55 to 58 for women in white-collar jobs and from 50 to 55 for those in blue-collar work.
Despite that, Chinese retirees remain some of the world’s youngest, with some scholars arguing that staying active and engaged in society was a beneficial way to age.
A healthier older population could not only ease a country’s medical burden, but also free up family members from elder care tasks and improve the relatives’ labour market participation, said Yang Wei, director of the Institute of Gerontology at King’s College London.
“Investing in services for older people doesn’t necessarily mean spending money or wasting it. To a large extent, it may save us money and even lead to a more rational allocation of resources,” she said at the NYU Shanghai event last week.
Long-term improvement in the functional capacity of older individuals could lead to a 0.2 per cent growth in global GDP, her research found.
Zhao, the Zhejiang retiree, said he and others his age could remain active consumers and contributors to society by buying new cars, renovating homes or engaging in travel.
“Senior people’s demand is not just about being looked after – they also need a variety of products and services that can support a diverse lifestyle,” he said.


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Age bias is an obstacle to the growth of China’s silver economy, researchers say


Age bias is an obstacle to the growth of China’s silver economy, researchers say.


As Chinese retirees boost nation’s economy, some hope for greater consumer freedom in society

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Age bias is an obstacle to the growth of China’s silver economy, researchers say

Age bias is an obstacle to the growth of China’s silver economy, researchers say