Uppdaterad: 17 november 2009
The world’s pensioners are growing in number and increasing in age, and are making new demands regarding their quality of life. These demographic and social changes are creating new business opportunities, and technologies such as digital healthcare services in the home, where Sweden is in the forefront.
In the year 2020, 25 percent of Europe’s population will be over 65. Based on today’s population of about 500 million, that would be about 100 million people. The new generation of pensioners is not only larger in size, but is making greater demands with respect to living standards and societal services than previous generations. Satisfying the needs of the world’s soon-to-be-gigantic elderly population is – without exaggeration – a political and socioeconomic challenge. But increasing demands also create new business opportunities, not least for digital technology.
New markets
Sweden is already amongst the countries with the highest percentage of elderly, and now the large generation born in the ’40s is going into retirement. This is a generation that is accustomed to consuming a lot, used to traveling and capable of utilising new technology.
Swedish research and business have capitalised previously on the potential of digital technology to satisfy the needs of the growing elderly population, not least within the healthcare sector. One market where Sweden has taken the lead is at-home digital healthcare. For many elderly, receiving care in the home increases quality of life and reduces healthcare costs. The research project old@home is one example. The project has developed a shared data system for home healthcare and primary healthcare, where home-care personnel, primary healthcare, relatives and the patient can access and update patient information. Healthcare professionals can document information on site in the patient’s home. The risk of making mistakes decreases and home-care staff saves time otherwise required for contacting primary healthcare personnel.
