Aging Society: Opportunities for the Future Sustainable Business

Abstract

Today, the world is facing the situation of an aging population due to the fact that elderly people tend to be increasing while the number of children under 15 is declining. Following Singapore, Thailand has the second largest proportion of the elderly population in the ASEAN region. In 2021, Thailand will become a full-fledged aging society whose number of its elderly citizens is expected to reach 20 percent of the total population.  Such a change in population structures could have extensive impacts on government budget, employment, labor productivity, product marketing and various service areas especially in finance and healthcare areas, etc. However, the Thai government gives utmost importance to this problem so many policies, plans and measures concerned have been set from both the public and private sectors to prepare Thailand for an aging society. Entering an aging society with an increase in a number of elderly people, they are considered to be a demographic group with high bargaining power and great potential for consumption. These factors reflect opportunities and challenges for business sustainability in the areas of quality tourism, healthy food, anti-aging beauty industry, innovations for promoting and rehabilitating health of the elderly people, delivery services and specialized fitness trainers for the elderly people, etc. It is suggested that business executives should be well-prepared to seek their business opportunities arising from an aging society for the continuous business growths in a sustainable manner.