CRI听力:Seniors Industry to Boom in Aging China

New analysis is suggesting China is expected to become one of the largest markets in the world for old-age services and products by 2050.

By then, it's expected China will be home to a quarter of the world's population over the age of 65.

Wu Yushao is the vice president of the China National Committee on Aging.

"Firstly, it's still the old notion that sits in most people's back head, that senior care is more about services than products, and a senior citizens banking is also absent. Meantime, the sector is very disorganized at the moment. Third, though with much money, the elderly don't create much demand, we need more government policy that would spur them to spend. And lastly, the sector seems to be growing on the rules of its own, it needs to be better regulated."

A new report from the China Research Center on Aging estimates the spending power of Chinese seniors is around 17-trillion US dollars, which is around one-third of China's current GDP.

The report also says more seniors will be living alone, and more of them will own two -or-more apartments.

For more on the spending power of seniors, the Beijing Hour's Shane Bigham spoke earlier with Benjamin Cavender, Principal of China Market Research in Shanghai.