HONG KONG, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- A Golden Age Expo was opened Friday in China's Hong Kong, with about 100 exhibitors from around the world showcasing latest elderly care products and services in exploration of opportunities in the fast-growing "silver hair market."
The annual expo, the third edition of its kind, will last for three days and is expected to attract over 20,000 visitors from Hong Kong, the mainland and overseas with exhibits including smart home products, latest technologies applicable to elderly care, insurance and financial services for retirees, and health foods and products for elderly.
The expo also includes performances by retirees to demonstrate the retirement life of "golden agers." A Golden Age Summit was held concurrently with the expo and invited over 70 speakers from about 10 countries to talk about various subjects of smart ageing.
"Like many places around the globe, Hong Kong is facing a rapidly ageing population," Chief Secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government Cheung Kin-chung said at the opening ceremony of the expo.
"While the demographic shift can be challenging to healthcare and welfare systems, the HKSAR government sees "opportunities for exploring innovative policy solutions to keep public services up to date with changing needs and ensure more effective use of limited resources."
According to Cheung, the ratio of people aged 65 or above in Hong Kong is expected to increase from today's one in 6.5 to one in three in 20 years, and the group of "old-olds," elderly people aged 85 or above, will be more than double from the current 173,000 to around 378,000.
It is also expected that three out of five people turning 65 today will live to 85 or beyond and two of them to at least 90. Many Hong Kong people will therefore enjoy a retirement span as long as two or three decades.
Besides enhancing care for senior citizens through various social welfare policies, the HKSAR government is also encouraging innovation and technology to promote "smart aging in a smart city," Chueng said.
