(Yicai) Feb. 26 -- China will improve supporting measures, strengthen policy implementation, and promote the development of the silver economy to exploit its huge potential, given the ageing population, according to the State Council.

China should further release silver consumption demand, enhance related consumption capacity, leverage the guiding role of policies, such as consumption subsidies, and create new scenarios and new business formats for elderly consumption, the State Council said during an executive meeting on Feb. 24, Xinhua News Agency reported.

China’s silver economy had a scale of about CNY7 trillion (USD1.02 trillion) in 2024, accounting for 6 percent of the gross domestic product, according to the Blue Book of Silver Economy: Annual Report on the Development of Silver Economy in China (2024). The scale is expected to expand to CNY30 trillion (USD4.38 trillion) by 2025, with the ratio to the GDP jumping to 10 percent.

China has the world’s largest elderly population, with over 320 million people aged 60 and above at the end of last year, according to data released by the State Council. The figure is projected to exceed 400 million by 2035.

The State Council meeting identified the silver economy as a new growth area with huge potential for the country, placing the same emphasis on both basic and emerging needs of the elderly, Zhu Keli, founding director of the China New Economy Research Institute, told Yicai.

Through methods such as consumption subsidies, scenario cultivation, and business format innovation, silver consumption will be promoted from traditional rigid-demand types to quality-oriented, intelligent, and service-oriented types, making the elderly population an important supporting force for expanding domestic demand, Zhu noted.

The arrangements for this meeting aim to build a framework and set the direction for the silver economy and elderly care services, said Peng Xizhe, dean of the Fudan Institute of Ageing.

With the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the coordinated development of the silver economy and elderly care will have two key directions, Peng explained. The first is to continuously accelerate the construction of an efficient, integrated, and sustainable elderly care service system, and the second is to strengthen the empowerment of silver technologies and expansion of application scenarios, driving the silver economy to achieve substantial leaps forward.

Vigorously boosting consumption and expanding domestic demand have become the focus of China’s future policies, according to Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank. Based on factors such as the restoration of consumer confidence and the expansion of service consumption, it is expected that the growth rate of retail sales of consumer goods in China may rebound to around 5 percent this year, Wen predicted.

Service consumption will become a key driver this year, said Ye Fan, chief economist at Southwest Securities. Consumption growth will likely maintain a steady upward trend this year, with an optimistic expectation of around 5 percent, he noted.

Editor: Futura Costaglione