Making China longevity-ready – an ILC-UK report
With China’s ageing population, increasing the share of health spending on prevention and investing in interventions such as immunisation, will be critical to keeping people economically active and contributing to both the formal and informal economy. 11th April 2026
Ensuring people live well for longer will be central to unlocking China’s longevity dividend, which is set to be substantial:
- By mid-century, more than 1 in 2 Chinese residents will be aged 50 or older, creating the world’s largest cohort of older adults in absolute terms.
- In 2024, adults aged 50+ generated $8.3 trillion in consumption and labour income – larger than the entire GDP of Japan.
- By 2050, 59% of every dollar spent and 54 cents of every dollar earned will come from adults aged 50+.
Around 60% of middle-aged and older women provide family caregiving, while over a quarter of middle-aged adults care for their parents. - If valued at prevailing wages, this contribution would add around $95 billion annually to China’s economy.
- Investment in flu and pneumococcal vaccination already delivers strong economic returns: each flu vaccination generates around $2,200 in lifetime societal value per person, and each pneumococcal vaccination around $1,980.
- Achieving the WHO target coverage rate of 75% for flu and using this as a benchmark for pneumococcal vaccination could generate an additional $840 billion in societal value over the remaining lifetimes of those vaccinated, equivalent to around 0.2% of China’s annual GDP.
To view this ILC-UK report, which has been made possible through a charitable contribution from Pfizer, click the button below.
