July 6, 2007
A consumer market for retirees is emerging in Taiwan, as an estimated 2.9 million people will reach retirement age within the next ten years, said the cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD).
The CEPD referred to the experience of Japan, whose aging population is showing its spending power, evident in the growth of medical care and nursing and domestic and international travel industries.
In light of this, Taiwan should prepare by starting to develop these markets in the near future, said the CEPD.
According to statistics by the Ministry of Interior, as of March 2007, the population aged between 55 and 59 years old numbered 1.25 million, while the population aged between 50 and 54 years old numbered 1.65 million.
As a potential consumer market, the elderly population are most likely to spend on residential safety and comfort, medical care, and travel, said the CEPD.
The CEPD noted that the government has started to address the needs of the aging and elderly population through its "Big Investments, Big Warm" economic stimulus package. One of its programs, the "Industrial Development Package", has classified health care as an "emerging industry", and will promote the development of care services, medical instruments, drugs, and health food products for the aging market.
In addition, under another set of government stimulus programs aimed at care services, the professional/semi-professional workforce in the fields of care services, social work, nursing care, occupational therapy will number 83,000 persons by 2015, said the CEPD.
(Central News Agency)
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