China’s population is ageing rapidly and the country is looking into robotics and AI in order to offset the current and especially the future costs related to the country’s greying population. Finnish healthtech companies might be able to find opportunities related to this, especially those that provide digital or AI-enabled solutions for elderly care.

1. OTSIKLAOTSIKKO, KUUKAUSI VUOSISIGNAL: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) AND
ROBOTICS IN CHINA’S ELDERLY CARE

2. SUMMARY
• China’s population is ageing rapidly and the country is
looking into robotics and AI in order to offset the
current and especially the future costs related to the
country’s greying population.
• Finnish healthtech companies might be able to find
opportunities related to this, especially those that
provide digital or AI-enabled solutions for elderly
care.
Team Finland Future Watch Report, January 20182

3. CHINA’S RAPIDLY AGEING
POPULATION
Team Finland Future Watch Report, January 20183

4. CHINA’S RAPIDLY AGEING POPULATION
Team Finland Future Watch Report, January 20184
…the number of
pensioners aged
above 65 in China
will hit 330 million by
2050 from 110
million in 2010.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the
number of pensioners aged above 65 in China will hit 330
million by 2050 from 110 million in 2010. This rate of ageing
is much quicker than in many developed economies and
something that China needs to address.
The world’s most heavily populated nation is also dealing with
a shortage of medical practitioners. WHO has estimated the
density of doctors in China to 1.5 physicians for every 1.000
people which is considerably lower than e.g. 2.8 in the UK or
2.4 in the US. Apart from doctors there is also a general
shortfall of elderly care workers.
Further, the amount of children caring for their ageing parents
is decreasing in China. Traditionally, the Chinese elderly have
been looked after by their children but China’s previous one
child policy as well as changing lifestyles are affecting this.
Thus, only 38 per cent of those over the age of 60 are
currently living with their children.

5. AI AND ROBOTICS IN CHINA’S
ELDERLY CARE
Team Finland Future Watch Report, January 20185

6. AI AND ROBOTICS IN CHINA’S ELDERLY CARE
Team Finland Future Watch Report, January 20186
China is looking to
robotics and AI In
order to offset the
current and
especially the future
costs related to the
country’s greying
population
China is ill prepared for an increased amount of elderly people
as it compared to other countries already lags behind when it
comes to providing affordable and high quality care for people
of age. As stated above the number of doctors and elderly
care workers is insufficient and, in addition, it is also
concentrated in the big cities.
China is looking to robotics and AI In order to offset the
current and especially the future costs related to the country’s
greying population. The country’s tech giants Baidu, Alibaba
and Tencent (BAT) are at the forefront of developing new AI-
enabled solutions and Alibaba Health has e.g. teamed up with
Chinese hospitals in order to enhance the information sharing
between hospitals as well as quicken medical decisions and
improve diagnostics.

7. AI AND ROBOTICS IN CHINA’S ELDERLY CARE
Team Finland Future Watch Report, January 20187
The use of AI and
robotics in
healthcare is also
linked to China’s
aspiration to win the
AI race.
At present AI-enabled care robots use machine learning,
voice recognition and natural language processing when
assisting China’s elderly. Baidu has e.g. introduced its chatbot
“Melody” that talks to its customers. The chatbot asks its
patient questions about his or her health, pulls health
information online and provides doctors with a treatment
hypothesis that the doctor revises and sends to the patient.
The use of AI and robotics in healthcare is also linked to
China’s aspiration to win the AI race. China aims to become
the world leader in artificial intelligence (AI) by 2025. The
Chinese government came up with an AI development plan in
July 2017 in which it set out to grow the nation's core AI
industries to over 150 billion yuan ($22.15 billion) by 2020 and
400 billion yuan ($59.07 billion) by 2025.

8. INSIGHTS FOR FINLAND
Team Finland Future Watch Report, January 20188

9. INSIGHTS FOR FINLAND
Team Finland Future Watch Report, January 20189
…the elderly care
market is set to
experience
significant growth in
the near future
Health care expenditure now accounts for approximately 5 per
cent of China’s GDP and the elderly care market is currently
estimated to be worth about CNY 4 trillion (EUR 0.5 trillion).
As stated above, China’s population is aging rapidly and the
elderly care market is set to experience significant growth in
the near future. Finnish healthtech companies might be able
to find opportunities related to this, especially those that
provide digital or AI-enabled solutions for elderly care.

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