"Population aging is a very fast thing for China."

Changes in population structure often mean a systematic shift in the logic of national governance. How to understand the current aging trend? What is the pressure on the future pension system? How should China face up to and develop the "silver economy"? Many problems are at hand.

According to estimates, in the next ten years, China will add more than 10 million elderly people each year. The elderly population is transitioning from "quantity" to "structure", becoming the fundamental aspect of Chinese society.

Seven years later, China faces a super-aging society

On the one hand, it will lead to a continuous contraction of the labor supply and an increase in the dependency ratio, which will bring long-term and continuous pressure on the pension system and public finance; on the other hand, it also indicates that the silver-haired population will change from a "marginal population" to a "central variable", which will have a reshaping impact on consumption, technology, education, housing, wealth management and other fields.

Against this background, a series of basic construction and policy supply for deep aging services are imminent.

Problem: Structural dilemma of the future pension system

With the increase in the elderly population, the first to encounter a systemic shock is the pension system. Against this background, China has continuously launched a "combination punch" of systems in recent years: improving the level of coordination, promoting national coordination, launching the third pillar, delaying retirement, adjusting the contribution rate, etc., and the effect is beginning to show.

Response: Breeding new momentum from challenges

"Aging itself is not a bad thing, it is a manifestation of social progress." Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pointed out in his speech at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference that medical progress and the extension of life expectancy are important achievements of human development. But how to make "longevity" a welfare rather than a burden depends on changing concepts, reconstructing systems, and activating momentum.

In this regard, think tank researchers believe that the key to coping with an aging society lies in "structural transformation" rather than a single welfare supplement.

In terms of response plans, we should start from the following aspects:

Construction of a smart elderly care system: Through AI technology, big data, the Internet of Things and other means, create a smart elderly care platform with precise matching and timely response, improve service efficiency and experience, and at the same time, accelerate the deployment of service robots in elderly care scenarios, covering functions such as accompanying, health monitoring, and emotional support, and alleviate the problem of tight human resources.

Community-level value platform for middle-aged and elderly people: Promote the community to become a platform for the integration of "life + entrepreneurship + service" for middle-aged and elderly people, enhance their ability to take care of themselves, and improve community participation. Middle-aged transformation empowerment mechanism: Encourage social resources to invest in mechanisms such as "middle-aged re-education", "skill re-matching", and "entrepreneurship risk buffer" to support active transformation and career extension. Family asset operation platform: Explore the possibility of platform operation of middle-aged and elderly family assets (such as real estate, social networks, experience and skills) to enable them to have stable return capabilities and sharing characteristics.

From "Aging Pressure" to "Longevity Dividend"

Aging is a challenge and a proposition. It tests the sustainability of the system and stimulates the creativity of governance. Think tank researchers believe that the future of the silver economy is not just consumption and services based on "compensation for aging", but building a "welfare and old age solution" - focusing on those models with liquidity and sustainable operation. This model is not a "farewell" but a "transition", not a "retirement" but a "transformation".

It no longer equates retirement with the cap of life, but a new stage of recreating the "career body", "social circle" and "value network". Especially under the trend of low birth rate, the "silver-haired" group will become the main force, main market and main asset of the next round of Chinese modernization.

To truly achieve "transformation", the key lies in - supporting the system, empowering with technology, activating with culture, and transforming with finance. And this just means that the aging cause still has a long way to go.