Aging population not necessarily a burden

The increase in life expectancy in China in the next five years can also be translated into huge business opportunities

China has proposed to increase people's life expectancy by a year by 2020 from 76.34 in 2015, although women on average live longer than men. The goal was one among many announced by Premier Li Keqiang for legislators to discuss and vote on at the ongoing annual session of National People's Congress, the top legislature.

This goal is highly achievable, and a reference to past data - included in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) - may explain why.

In 1981, the life expectancy of the Chinese was 67.77 years. It took almost 20 years to increase that to 71.40 in 2000. In another 15 years it reached 76.34. And there is no reason why the average life expectancy in China cannot increase by one year in the next five years, especially because people are expected to become richer, healthier and more educated.

Of course, detractors will say a rise in life expectancy will increase China's aging population further. But an increase in life expectancy in the world's most populous country can also be translated into opportunities for China and the rest of the world.

The rising life expectancy would add more dimensions to policy dialogues at the governmental level. The high per capita income in the European Union, particularly in Western European countries, and in the United States, Canada, Japan and Singapore has helped people live longer than their Chinese counterparts. This is to say developed economies have experienced this demographic change before China.

China can learn from others' experience to cope with the expected change and take measures to ensure better livelihood for its people.

On the other hand, China can become an example for other developing countries, especially in Africa, when it comes to raising the average life expectancy of their people. This is important because the World Health Organization says African people will still be "young" in 2030, while the rest of the world's population will be rapidly aging.

China has also vowed to end absolute poverty by 2020, which will help further decrease the mortality rate at birth in rural regions and improve people's living standards. This could be another example for other developing countries to follow. China is willing to share its experiences with them.

The China Institute for Reform and Development in South China's Hainan province has taken the lead in throwing open the country's first health management college, in which foreign partners are welcome to participate.

In Belgium, the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce is seeking to bring European experiences to senior citizens' training programs in China, while a company in the United Kingdom is expected to announce its plan to expand healthcare services in China soon.

New breakthroughs in medicine and healthcare are vital to increasing the longevity of people. And Chinese investors may already have noticed the recent announcement by British scientists that they are close to finding cures for some types of cancer. Such developments will not only help the growth of pharmaceutical and medicare businesses, but also reduce patients' agonies.

The offer from European high-tech companies to provide solutions to air, water and soil pollution in China is also another example of how an increase in life expectancy means more than an aging population.

Also, as people live longer and get richer, they will travel more frequently, and by doing so they will help boost the profits of tourism companies across the world. Not only favorite tourist destinations like London, New York, Paris, Rome, Athens and Moscow, but also many offbeat and remote places have become part of Chinese tourists' itineraries.

So an aging population is not necessarily a burden for a country.

The author is China Daily chief correspondent in Brussels. Contact the writer at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn