According to China’s Population Report, over 30 per cent of the population were under 20 years of age. On the other hand, the population segment of the people aged over 60 accounted for over 10 per cent, and those above 65 reached 6.95 per cent in the 2000 census. Population aging will become increasingly felt. By 2010 the people born in the baby boom period in the 1950s and 1960s will enter the elderly groupings and the elderly segment will experience the fastest growth. In the next 25 years the elderly population will be double today’s count.
When studying the age distribution, marketers are invited to look into the two extremes of the population,10 most populous provinces have 57% of the total population one of which is the population of teenagers or what is called the ‘little emperors’ generation, and the other is the growing aging population. Marketers have already invested efforts to address the needs of the pampered little emperors but little attention has been given to the elderly population.
The little emperors have enjoyed higher living standards and better education and training than previous generations in China. But they have also displayed distortions in behaviour. Research indicates that the little emperors do not only represent a group of consumers, but also have increasing influence over parents’ purchase decision-making. Over time, there will be more ‘only’ children joining the workforce. They will have better education as a result of their parents’ investment in only children schooling. Considerable study effort is necessary to understand the behavioural characteristics of only children, as they will soon become the core of Chinese society.
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