The secret to active ageing and the Hong Kong businesses cashing in on the trend among city’s elderly
As Hong Kong’s population ages, new services are springing up aimed at improving the elderly’s quality of life, both physical and social, and their mental well-being
It’s a Saturday afternoon and the second floor of The Kinnet is buzzing as men and women in sports gear fill their water bottles after an aerobics workout. It’s one of the many classes available at the Sheung Wan wellness centre that focuses on healthy ageing.
Providing services for the elderly is a growing industry, driven by an increasingly greying population. According to UN reports, rich nations are leading the way, but the greying trend is global.
By 2050, the median age in China, now 35, is projected to rise to 49; India’s population aged 60 to 80 will be 326 per cent larger; and nearly a quarter of Brazil’s residents will be elderly, compared with 7 per cent now.
Hong Kong is also getting greyer as the city’s post-war baby boomers enter old age. According to the Census and Statistics Department’s 2016 by-census, released in February, the median age increased to 43.4 last year, from 39.6 in 2006 and 41.7 in 2011. The proportion aged 65 or older rose from 12 per cent of the population in 2006 to a new high of 16 per cent. In 1986 the figure was just 8 per cent.
