Written by
Rainmaking
The number of people over 65 will grow by 78%
According to the World Health Organization, between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years of age will nearly double from 12% to 22%. Further, the 65-and-older age group is estimated to grow by 78% between 2010 and 2030, compared with a total population increase of just 18%.
According to the World Health Organization, between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years of age will nearly double from 12% to 22%. Further, the 65-and-older age group is estimated to grow by 78% between 2010 and 2030, compared with a total population increase of just 18%.
Those are not small numbers. By 2030, 25% of the elderly population reside in Europe and the USA. The Centre for Aging in London estimates that by 2020 there will be nearly 700 million elderly individuals in the world.
In the US, the elderly consumers are the most affluent of any segment, with many having multiple income sources. Two-thirds of adults aged 65+ years are now online. Interestingly, Americans aged 50 and over also account for nearly half of the market share in personal insurance and pensions, transportation, health, housing, and food. This fact means that this specific group should drive significant shifts in product and service design and consumption across sectors.
Unfortunately, traditionally the Elderly segment has been overlooked by technology organizations that instead have preferred to focus on the tech-savvy millennials who have been open to the latest fad and are willing to learn how to invest, save and protect themselves online. Although this may seem a sensible focus area in the short term, tech incumbents have ignored one crucial fact, which is that the Elderly are making up an increasing proportion of the global population.
By 2020, the number of people aged 60 years and older will outnumber children younger than five years of age.
Such insight unveils numerous challenges, but also recognizable opportunities for groups of market players, including insurers, interested in exploring the ElderTech space (technology designed to enable or serve the older generation). Before we explore the challenges and opportunities this demographic presents to the insurance industry, we must first understand who they are and their emerging needs.