The Silvers Series Part 1: Healthcare Technology for Seniors

In 2015, consumers aged 65+ accounted for around $7 trillion or approximately 17% of the total worldwide consumer spending. In 2030, seniors will account for around $15 trillion or approximately 23.5% of the total global consumer spending.

In this blog post, we highlight some takeaways from Part 1 in our Silvers Series. For the full report, click here. Our silvers series reports will explore three important market segments that comprise the silver economy: senior healthcare technology, senior homecare, and senior fun and leisure.

Millennials may be the demographic garnering the most headlines lately, but the aging and rapidly growing senior community deserves attention, too. The UN forecasts that the number of people aged 60 or older will grow by over 500 million between 2015 and 2030, raising the group’s share of the global population from 12.3% to 16.5%. This growth presents many business and economic opportunities for those engaged in “the silver economy,” especially for companies catering to seniors’ healthcare needs.

WHAT IS THE SILVER ECONOMY?
The European Commission defines the silver economy as “the economic opportunities arising from the public and consumer expenditure related to population aging and the specific needs of the population over 50.”

SENIOR HEALTHCARE SPENDING & TECH PRODUCTS

VitalSnap: This app, developed by a company called Validic, enables users to record health data and transmit it to care providers or a patient portal.

VitalSnap app enables users to record health data and transmit it to care providers.

Our estimates suggest that seniors accounted for around 16.1%, or $1.3 trillion, of healthcare spending globally in 2015. This is an approximation extrapolated from data for the US, the UK and Japan and based on total healthcare spending figures from the World Bank. These figures are based on UN population data, and so represent consumers aged 60+. We further estimate that those ages 60+ will account for approximately 21.6%, or $3.5 trillion, of global healthcare spending in 2030.

Within the industry, technology has been developed to cater to the specific medical and health needs of the older population. BCC Research valued the global market for senior-care technology at $3.7 billion in 2014, and expects it to grow to $10.3 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 18.8%.  Below, we profile some of the exciting senior healthcare tech products.

Source: Novartis.com

Novartis’s portfolio of smart inhalers: The smart inhalers help patients self-administer the prescribed drugs to treat COPD. The inhalers detect and record real-time data about their usage, including the time used and other information relevant to patients and physicians. This information is then transmitted to a patient’s smartphone and the Novartis app, through which healthcare providers can access it.

 

unaliwear kanega

UnaliWear’s Kanega:  This voice-controlled wristband looks like a watch and comes with many functions not available on the typical fitness tracker. Providing medication reminders to the wearer, including how each dose should be taken. If wearers wander off and lose their way, it tells them how to get home, and if they need help or emergency assistance, the wristband communicates with an operator.

 

 

bodyguardianBodyGuardian Remote Monitoring System: This sensor is a small wireless device that is fixed to a patient’s chest with a medical-grade
adhesive gel. It records real-time readings of a user’s average heart rate, breaths per minute, activity level and other vital signs to perform an electrocardiogram.

The sensor can be linked to a patient’s smartphone and to the company’s PatientCare platform to enable caregivers to monitor the patient’s health more closely.

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Read our full report for more insights on healthcare technology for seniors.

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