Nikkei Asia brings you this week a new collection of feature stories from our team of journalists, providing in-depth coverage of a range of trending topics. We'll publish a different feature every morning Asia time and send a push notification when it's ready to read.
This is the first edition of our new Saturday morning feature, Greater Asia. Feel free to share this story. Features are free to read this week.
SEOUL — Choi Soon-hwa, a week shy of her 81st birthday, is the fresh face of South Korea's late-blooming business sector — a “silver economy” that analysts expect will grow to more than $120 billion by 2030. the level of productivity in the country is decreasing.
After spending her adulthood toiling in low-paying factory jobs between raising two children and then caring for her three grandchildren, Choi's eureka moment came when she was 72 and working as a nurse's aide.
One patient told her she looked like a model and should be walking runways instead of changing beds. The comment reignited an old ambition and set Choi on a new, more glamorous path. She is now featured in magazines and in shows across the country, and last month took part in a beauty pageant to select South Korea's Miss Universe contestant after organizers scrapped the previously imposed upper age limit.
“When I was young, I had dreams, but I thought they were impossible,” Choi told Nikkei Asia during a recent interview. “Back then, people took life as it came and didn't care too much about our own egos.”
Choi Soon-hwa competes in the 2024 Miss Universe Korea pageant in Seoul on September 30. © AP
Now, she said: “When I walk down the runway at a fashion show and I see the audience looking up at me on either side, I think, 'Wow, that's really me!' I can do this at my age!”
Choi's public profile is a shining example of South Korea's burgeoning silver economy, as more businesses wake up to the possibilities of marketing a wide range of goods and services to the elderly, who make up a growing portion of the population, as elsewhere in the region. .
Research by Kim Young-sun, director of Kyunghee University's AgeTech & Silver Economy Institute, predicts the market for senior-oriented businesses will be worth 168 trillion won ($128 billion) by 2030, more than doubling from 72.8 trillion won. 2020.
Kim said that the development of commerce aimed at the elderly has so far lagged behind neighboring countries. “We can see that South Korea's silver economy has great hidden potential. But compared to other Asian countries, the market is still very low. For example, if you look at China, the market there is very developed.”
According to Ping An, a Chinese financial services group, China's silver economy is already worth about $966 billion. Meanwhile, World Data Lab, a consumer research agency, estimates that Japan's silver economy will grow to $1.1 trillion by 2030.
Kim points to leisure activities such as tourism and vocational training for seniors looking to learn new job skills, as well as legal and financial advice as inevitable growth areas in the silver economy. “There is a lot of government R&D and other efforts in the market right now, and there will be significant development in the future,” he said.
Becoming a model is the latest evolution in Choi's eventful life, which observers say resonates with many older people like her who grew up in poor, war-torn lands and eventually emerged from a dictatorship to become a good world leader. in pop culture and technology for several decades.
Born in 1943 in an industrial town on the southern coast of South Korea, he dropped out of school at the outbreak of the Korean War in the early 1950s and went to work in a textile factory in his hometown amid the economic devastation brought about by the conflict. teenagers to support their families.
“Ms. Choi represents a very strong Korean woman,” said Yang Sun-mook, a high-profile business and events promoter. “She went through wars, dictatorships and poverty and overcame all kinds of hardships. There are many Korean women like that.”
K-pop group ITZY performs in Gangnam, Seoul on September 29. Promoters of the silver economy say products and services for the elderly can be exported, reflecting the popularity of South Korean pop and TV dramas abroad. © AP
“There are many elderly women who spent their entire youth and middle age sacrificing for the family, raising children, and serving their husbands. Then they reach 60 and ask: “What will happen now? They still have great hopes, they believe that they can do a lot.”
Yang believes that silver modeling can be a “spearhead” for other forms of commercial activity, and as South Korea's silver sector develops, the country's companies can work towards exporting aged care products such as health supplements and skin care. it has pop music, TV dramas, electronics and food.
A number of startups catering to older consumers have sprung up in recent years, such as Athler, an online fashion platform for older men starting their “second lives” after middle age. Also, lifestyle platform Onew attracted investment in its services that connect seniors with hobbies and community.
Shinhan Life Care, a subsidiary of the bank of the same name, recently announced an agreement with Hyundai's construction arm to build housing and care facilities for the elderly.
Another factor behind the growth of the silver economy: South Korea, with a population of about 52 million, currently has one of the lowest birth rates in the world as more and more young people choose to remain childless amid rising housing prices and severe economic pressures. competition for stable, well-paying jobs in large companies.
An elderly woman walks past diners at a food stall at Gwangjang Market in Seoul: By 2050, 40% of South Korea's population is projected to be 65 or older. © AFP/Jiji
In 2023, the rate reached an all-time low of 0.72 births per woman, well below the replacement level of 2.1 births needed to keep the population stable.
Older people are a growing share of the population and a growing focus for businesses looking to adapt to demographic trends. According to the forecasts of the National Statistics Agency, by 2036, those aged 65 and over will make up 30.9% of the country's population, and by 2050 it will rise to 40%. In 2022, this rate will increase to 17.4%.
Park Yeong-ran, a professor at Kangnam University's silver industry department, said companies had to focus on making the elderly aware as active consumers.
“Twenty years ago, companies focused on caring for dependent elderly people. Now the market is shifting to serving people who continue their new lifestyles in their old age,” Park told Nikkei.
To be sure, Park cautioned that South Korea's retirement age is still close to 60 — earlier than in other advanced economies — and many among the elderly have only modest pensions and limited spending power.
“A lot of people still have to work after retirement because they need income. People are living longer and many are not financially ready for retirement and just not enjoying their lives. The market is not yet as profitable as some companies expect.” he said.
Official data shows that 36% of people aged 65 and over will be employed by 2022, up 6.1% from 10 years ago and the highest senior employment rate of any OECD member country. However, only 20.7% of working seniors said they were satisfied with their income.
Before starting the 81 On Friday, Choi says the message she wants to send to her peers, both at home and abroad, is that the key to continued vitality is finding confidence in one's twilight years.
“In my later years modeling, I became really independent,” she said.
“I'm gradually letting go of all my old habits, the habits of most Korean parents who are constantly worried about their children and feel like I have to spend all my money on them.”