Opportunity Growing while Aging

Ouyang， a 61-year-old lady living in Changsha， has

her busy routine life everyday. Get up at 6:00 am in the morning， play taichi for 2 hours， watch health TV program while having breakfast， take health products before and after meals， take nap every noon， play musical instrument in the afternoon， go dance on the complex square in the evening， and go sleep before 11:00 pm. “All I do now is hoping to live healthier and happier，” she said， “I’m now even busier than the time when I was at work a few years ago”. She is a typical example of Chinese senior citizens. When people get aging， they pay more attention to their own health. Health care industry is emerging and developing quickly in China， especially the health products industry. Aging era is coming

From 2011 to 2015， China’s population aged 60 and above will increase from 178 million to 221 million， i.e. 8.6 million people will join the ranks of senior citizens each year in average. The proportion of the sixty plus population will increase from 13.3% to 16% by 2015， an average annual increase of 0.54%. China’s first growth peak of aging population will arrive. In the next 20 years， China’s aging population will continue to grow. By 2030， it is expected this group will double from that of now.

Service demand for those over sixty will increase dramatically. On September 17， 2011， State Council issued China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan on Aging Industry， highlighting the importance of the health care industry. The Plan stresses to fully develop the health care industry for the elderly， including provide more education in health care， illness prevention， mental health， and first aid， to make the health care knowledge available; encourage them to have regular exercise and healthy way of life.

The cake of health products

Chinese don’t have a culture of taking health products however. “I began to take health products when I was over 50， when my family and friends thought that I was old enough to take extra health products.” Ouyang said. Again， she is not alone here. But it is this culture background that highlights the opportunity of health products in China’s aging era.

“Chinese health products industry has entered a second phase of rapid development. The driving forces of consumer promotion， policy， investment， and many other factors promote the development of the industry，” said Wang Dahong， Secretary General of the China Health Care Association. He remarked that in 2010， China’s sales of health care product totaled RMB 90 billion， and it was for sure sales in 2011 would surpass RMB 100 billion.“In the 1990s， China’s health product industry embraced its first phase of fast developing. From 2011， it is expected to welcome the second phase of rapid development，” said Wang.

A researcher from CITIC Securities Industry also mentioned that， currently China’s GDP per capita is marching from US$4，000 to US$8，000and health products consuming has gradually changed from optional goods item to daily necessities， especially for the aging population. In the context of consumer upgrade， as well as China will enter an aging society era， the development of health products industry in China will speed up.

Liang Shuisheng， Vice Chairman of the Board of By-Health， a health products company based in Guangdong， China， thinks that the industry is developing fast. “There are two types of health products in high demand of the market: the first kind is health products based on modern western nutriology， such as dietary supplement and plants and animal extracts; the second is nourishing Chinese herbs in line with Traditional Chinese Medicine， such as ginseng and deer antler，” Liang said. “For the sake of health， both kinds of products sell well， especially among the senior group.”

More education in need

Aging population does create a lot of opportunities for health product market; meanwhile the seniors do need more education on how to take them. The following survey shows that it’s still a long journey to educate the aging group on the health products consumption.

The Industrial and Commercial Bureau of Pinghu City， Zhejiang Province recently conducted a survey on health products consumption patterns of elderly people. 600 questionnaires were distributed in the survey to people over 60 years old and 558 questionnaires were returned. The results showed that 40% of the respondents take health products regularly， and 75% had purchased health products in the latest 6 months. However， 41% of the respondents couldn’t distinguish the difference between health products and drugs. 39% of the respondents purchase health products without any professional advice. Over 20% polled thought health products could be used to treat or cure disease without taking drugs (actually health products can never take place of drugs nor kill diseases). Over 30% responded that they felt cheated or tricked by deceptive advertisement or overly hyped products by sales people. Here are the results of more other questions asked: