This year's CIIE discusses challenges and opportunities of an aging population

A forum discussing the global aging population will be held at the 5th China International Import Expo on November 5.

The forum is one of the events at the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, a major component of the CIIE, which will run from November 5 to 10.

Focusing on the global aging population, the forum will discuss the challenges and new development opportunities arising from it, and ways to tap into the growth of the silver economy – economic activities linked to older age groups.

About 100 countries and regions around the world have entered the stage of population aging, and aging has become a common trend throughout the world, according to the CIIE Bureau.

The United Nations expects that the proportion of the global population aged 65 and above will rise from 10 percent in 2022 to 16 percent in 2050.

As for China, it entered an aging society around 2000, and by the end of 2021, the population aged 65 and above had exceeded 200 million, and is still in the process of rapid aging.

Responding to the challenges of an aging population, promoting inclusive economic and social development to better elderly living, and developing the silver economy to stimulate new dynamic growth, have become questions of that require urgent answers at both the theoretical and practical levels, said the bureau.

The forum will also release a research report on Chinese cities, and their capacity to cope with an increasingly aging population. It aims to provide solutions to population aging, and encourage cities to explore ways to adapt their economic and social development accordingly.