Age-friendly products catch limelight at ongoing CIIE

Silver economy has caught limelight at the ongoing 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE) where myriad innovative age-friendly products made their debut, an upbeat trend to cater to the growing aging population.

Experts have predicted that the number of people aged 60 and above in China will surpass 400 million around 2035 and is expected to reach 500 million by 2050.

Meanwhile, China's silver economy now stands at around 7 trillion yuan (about 960 billion U.S. dollars), and is expected to reach around 30 trillion yuan (about 4.13 trillion U.S. dollars) by 2035.

Participants at the expo are prioritizing open cooperation and innovative advancement within the silver economy sector, discussing new ideas and strategies that actively respond to the challenge of an aging population and help promote the industry's high-quality development.

During a forum focused on silver economy, head of the social affairs department of the National Development and Reform Commission said that China has entered a moderate aging society, with its aging rate being relatively high on a global scale. Developing silver economy has become a key strategy for addressing the challenges posed by an aging population in China, alongside the innovation of new technologies for meeting their needs.

"China is a very vibrant, innovative economy, and a lot of people are trying new things. I think there is a lot of room for cooperation between Japanese companies and Chinese companies," said Osamu Onodera, Head of the Beijing Office for JETRO, a government related organization responsible for promotion of trade and investment.

There are about 220 million people aged 65 and older in China, accounting for 15.4 percent of the population. At the expo, life insurance industry practitioners said that they will enhance wealth management and health protection services for the elderly to align with the evolving silver economy.

"We will increase the supply of insurance service systems for silver economy, as well as make more investments in this area," said Dai Chuanjiang, Deputy General Manager of China Pacific Life Insurance Company.

The CIIE has been facilitating connections between supply and demand in the health and elderly care industry. The estimated transaction volume for elderly care, rehabilitation and assistive products has reached 348 million U.S. dollars in the previous six sessions.

The 7th CIIE, which runs from Tuesday to Sunday, has attracted 3,496 exhibitors from 129 countries and regions this year. The event also marks a significant milestone with the participation of 297 Fortune Global 500 companies and leading industry players from around the world.

Age-friendly products catch limelight at ongoing CIIE

China recorded a relatively fast credit growth in the first four months of this year, providing solid support for the country's real economy, economists said.

China issued 10.06 trillion yuan (about 1.39 trillion U.S. dollars) in new yuan-denominated loans in the first four months of 2025, data from the People's Bank of China, the central bank, showed on Wednesday.

"The reasonable growth of new loans fully meets the effective financing needs of the real economy from equipment renewal in manufacturing to capital turnover in the service industry, and stimulates the vitality and creativity of market entities," said Lu Zhe, chief economist of Soochow Securities Co., Ltd.

Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of the Merchants Union Consumer Finance Co., Ltd, has also noted that at the end of April, the growth rate of yuan-denominated loans was still significantly higher than the nominal economic growth rate.

"In the fourth quarter of last year, the issuance of special refinancing bonds for debt repayment exceeded 2 trillion yuan. From January to April of this year, nearly 1.6 trillion yuan worth of such bonds were issued. Market research estimates that the corresponding loans to be replaced amount to about 2.1 trillion yuan. After adjustment, the growth rate of yuan-dominated loans remained above 8 percent at the end of April. It is expected that the growth of the financial aggregate will remain stable in the next stage," Dong said.

Meanwhile, financing costs remained at historically low levels. Data showed that the weighted average interest rate on new corporate loans issued in April was around 3.2 percent, about 4 basis points lower than that in the previous month, and the weighted average interest rate on new personal housing loans stood at about 3.1 percent.

"The steady growth of financial data in April indicates that the 'moderately loose' monetary policy has continued to show its effectiveness. The growth in both quantity and quality of loans, the reasonable increase in money supply, plus abundant liquidity, demonstrate the strong support of the financial system for the real economy," said Lu.

China's relatively fast credit growth provides solid support for real economy