India ageing faster: Are the national marketers equipped to address this under-served market?

After three decades, the Indian demography will be very different from today. By 2050, the grey population will double. We will essentially see a projected 326% increase in the number of people aged between 60 and 80 by the year 2050 (from the year 2000) and a 700% increase in the number of people older than 80 in India as per the report by UNFPA.

Have the marketers realized this? Post 50 years, they have at least another 20-30 years of life ahead. For 30 years of their lives, they have stayed active, engaged in activities, earned their livings and taken care of their children and suddenly for the rest of the 30 years they have no activities to do. They have nothing to look forward to when they start their day. Every person feels a sense of achievement when they complete a task or a responsibility. We need to involve the elders for them to live with a sense of pride.

There are products and services that cater in specific to children, youngsters, middle aged people, working men, working women, housewives; but are their products that fulfill the need of the elders? We have activity groups for all age brackets but we do not have activity groups for the old age groups. India is ageing rapidly and it is also suggested by experts that in order to keep up with the rapidly graying demographic profile, India must urgently invent new models, essentially to keep seniors active and productive.

Many senior citizens have a lot of enthusiasm and courage to contribute to society and remain active at times of their mild illness as well. They tend to move towards looking out for activities to keep themselves engaged and thereby healthy. There are many different determinants that lead to active ageing such as personal, behavioral, social, economic and health. Some of these cannot be managed by the society but there are some factors that can be helped with, so that the elders can move forward actively.

HelpAge India through its AdvantAge Card program is all set to empower the 50+ by building this group for elders to interact and age by living a meaningful life.