It's pencilled in for the second quarter: that’s when Ayun hopes to open Switzerland’s first “Longevity Day Clinic” in Zurich. “Our team of medical and health experts will help you understand your health and develop tailored strategies with you for a longer, healthier life,” says the start-up on its website. It seeks to enable clients to recharge their batteries, strengthen their immune system and improve their resilience with the aid of cutting-edge diagnostics and scientifically validated treatments. Ayun’s business idea is absolutely reflective of the times, with more and more people across the world looking at longevity. The primary goal of this trend is to prolong the lifespan as much as possible beyond average life expectancy – but without having to adopt excessively strict restrictions on their health.
Switzerland is already doing well in the “march of the seniors”. Purely statistically, babies who came into the world here in 2022 can expect to be around for almost 84 years. According to figures from the United Nations (UN), average life expectancy in Switzerland has increased by nearly 13 years since 1960. There are only a few countries in the world with a higher average age at death. While Switzerland is on a par with Japan and Liechtenstein, the statistics show that only in Hong Kong and the Chinese special administrative region of Macau is the figure higher at one year more. Researchers reckon that the trend will continue rising, so that life expectancy in the European Union could climb 10 years to over 90 by the end of the century. According to projections from Eurostat, the statistics authority, it is possible that the EU will be home to almost half a million citizens aged 100 or over by as early as 2050.
This development, driven by factors such as increasing prosperity, improved medical provision, greater hygiene and better working conditions, has far-reaching consequences. On the one hand, work will lose impact as a factor because fewer and fewer people will be of working age. At the same time, the demand for effective retirement provision and age-appropriate institutions and services will rise. This is where the longevity approach can help. The ability to work can be retained for longer through the timely adoption of healthier lifestyles and constant education. This makes it possible to reduce the burden on social security systems while also laying the foundations for a long and fulfilling life. Longevity can thereby increasingly develop into an independent economic trend or sector, all the more so given that many older people have the necessary financial resources to spend money on their own wellbeing or on their families.
Interesting figures on this issue have been provided by AARP, a non-profit organisation that has dedicated itself to safeguarding the interests of those of the US population aged 50 and over. According to a study entitled “Global Longevity Economy® Outlook: The economic contribution of people age 50 and older”, the economic influence of the over-50s is rising across the world. In 2020, this age group contributed USDtn 45, or 34%, to global gross domestic product (GDP). In 2050, people aged 50 or over are set to account for USDtn 118, or 39% of global economic output. The impact of older people is already relatively high in more mature and wealthier economies. Economist Impact, for instance, the organisation responsible for the analysis, puts their influence on US GDP in 2020 at 45.7%. For Switzerland, the economists have calculated a figure of more than 40%. The over-50s are drivers of consumer spending especially, adding USDtn 35 to this market in 2020, around half its value. In the healthcare segment that share was as high as 60%. According to the study, in 2050 the age group in question could be responsible for a total USDtn 96 in consumption. That would represent nearly 60% of total global consumer spending. Little wonder, then, that it is not only new specialist service providers such as the Zurich start-up mentioned above that are vying for the older generation’s money. Many established companies from a wide range of sectors are also increasingly turning their attention to the longevity trend.
Source: World Bank
Source: AARP, Global Longevity Economy® Outlook, 10.11.2022