PING AN'S NEXT FRONTIER: CHINA'S 'SILVER ECONOMY'

Insurance giant Ping An is making a bid to serve China's rapidly aging society with new technology and smart design. Can it turn the country's demographic crisis into an opportunity-and show the rest of the world how a "silver future" could work?

- By Nicholas Gordon

HIGH UP Shenzhen's Ping An Finance Center—the world's fifth-tallest skyscraper—is a modest one-bedroom demo apartment. It's well-furnished, smartly designed, and wouldn't be out of place in one of China's top cities.

But the floor space and furnishings aren't what's most interesting about the flat. There are sensors in the ceiling, meant to automatically detect when an occupant has fallen. A display in the mirror shows vital signs recorded overnight. A touch screen provides a direct connection to a concierge, portrayed by an AI-generated avatar of a young woman.

The apartment is part of Ping An's bid for the "silver economy," focused on helping retirees looking for health care, education, and entertainment. The insurer is targeting China's elderly, whose numbers will soon rival the entire U.S. population.

"People who don't have sufficient financial resources can rely on the government. People who want a bit more can choose Ping An," says Michael Guo, Ping An's co-CEO and the man responsible for its health care and eldercare strategy.

One of China's largest private companies, Ping An is making its bid for health care at an opportune time. China is rapidly aging as birth rates plummet. Two decades ago, China's median age was 32; now, it's just past 40. Most discussions of China's demographic crisis focus on the downside: a steep decline in China's working-age population, the source of the country's manufacturing and economic boom.

But China's demographic transition is only a crisis for some. The silver economy—centered on a fast-growing, newly wealthy, newly curious, and newly independent cohort over age 50—could be worth billions to companies like Ping An that are trying to combine technology and smart design to serve an aging society.