As the global economic landscape undergoes restructuring characterized by intensified geopolitical fragmentation and technological advancements, Mr. Claude Smadja, former CEO of the World Economic Forum, offers a clear and bold assessment: that the unipolar world order dominated by the United States is near its end. A multi-order world is emerging, with a new growth pattern developing amongst China and the rest of Asia.
The shift is not just about reshaping economic dynamics, but a deeper reconfiguration of values, Smadja points out. It is transforming how societies assign value, redefining what it means to grow and prosper in an ageing world. When the problem of ageing intersects the tech revolution led by AI, traditional sectors like social security, healthcare, eldercare, and chronic disease management are faced with disruptive change.
As the world’s second-most populous country, China’s ageing society faces fresh challenges in the new economic cycle. People are rethinking the meaning of “growth”: it is no longer defined by the rise in GDP, but how communities coexist, how individuals find security, and how civilization sustains itself.
“A new global order is giving rise to a new order of societal life,” Smadja remarked. “Among all the forces reshaping the future economy, the immense potential of the silver economy is most underestimated.”
The ageing population is not a sign of decline, but a symbol of maturity, according to Smadja. China stands at the forefront of this systematic turning point, with unique opportunities to redefine the meaning of quality growth.
An active participant in ageing-related initiatives, such as the 2022 Global Health Expo in Wuhan, Smadja is interested in the evolution of China’s healthcare and eldercare industry as described in the book Strategy Determines Everything written by Chen Dongsheng，founder, chairman and CEO of Taikang Insurance Group. Companies such as Taikang Insurance Group are heralding change by balancing local differentiation and technological innovation to provide new market-oriented eldercare service models.
“The old international order is dead.” Smadja describes a world dividing into two major economic centres: one Atlantic-centred, the other rooted in Asia. And while the United States struggles to defend its longstanding position, Europe, he argues, has begun to lose its relevance. “Europe has become a digital and cultural colony of the United States.” Smadja criticizes Europe’s dependence in security, energy, and technology, “Europe is practically absent in the realm of AI and the digital revolution.” A shrinking workforce, rising debt, and risk-averse politics have left the continent “comfortable, but no longer creative”.
In contrast, Asia’s vitality is fully unleashed. Infrastructure, finance, communications, and technology systems are converging in China’s new economic pathway. “This is not just an extension of China’s economy—it is the true beginning of the Asian Century.” Smadja comments.
Smadja believes American protectionism has ironically sped up this shift towards multipolarity, forcing the world to diversify and strengthening China–ASEAN economic convergence. “The geopolitical centre of gravity is moving from the Atlantic to the Pacific.”
China, he argues, is at a structural turning point. Over the past 40 years, infrastructure investment and export expansion fuelled an unprecedented economic miracle. But these growth engines are reaching their limits. To sustain momentum in the next decade, China must transition from expansion to upgrading.
Future growth will depend on two factors, technological autonomy and domestic demand. Technological autonomy does not translate to isolationist policies, but a move to secure resilience in key industries.
Simultaneously, consumer demand is evolving from “Do we have it?” to “Is it good?” Consumption is moving from material accumulation to human-centred values like experience and care. Meanwhile, China’s economic vitality continues to come from the private sector. Its agility and innovation drive industrial upgrading and tech breakthroughs, evident in the internet boom and the surge in renewables.
A key driver of this shift is the ever-growing elder population—wealthy, health-conscious, and eager to pursue dignity and choice in later life. Thus, an emerging longevity-centred industry chain finds itself at the centre of economic transformation.
“Ageing does not destroy growth potential, but rather reshapes it,” Smadja says. Healthcare, long-term care, leisure travel, smart living, and lifelong learning are forming new pillars of the Chinese economy. As a result, there has been a surge in retirement communities, insurance and wealth protection, smart-assisted living technology and other products and services catered to elderly needs. Smadja calls this “a structural shift from production-driven to lifestyle-driven development”.
Japan and Nordic countries demonstrated that longevity economies can inspire groundbreaking innovation. Japan turned longevity challenges into world-leading robotics and healthcare industries; Nordic nations transformed longevity into social capital through strong public systems. “China’s advantage,” he argues, “lies in its comprehensive industrial system, technological momentum, scale of market, and younger regional environment.”
Today, China has seen the emergence of pioneering enterprises like Taikang Insurance Group. In a differentiated competitive market, the company’s founders have managed to integrate healthcare, retirement life, insurance, and wealth management into “full life-cycle solutions” where ageing is treated as a new horizon of possibility rather than a social cost.
Smadja calls this the “Chinese path to the silver economy”, a new model that combines growth with societal sustainability, ensuring that development is both intelligent and humane.
“Technology is rewriting the narrative of ageing,” Smadja asserts. This is not only an economic transformation but also a renewal of social psychology—from fear of decline to embracing longevity, from passive care to active living.
“Yes, China’s population is ageing, but the whole of Asia is still growing,” Smadja says. China’s strength lies not in avoiding demographic realities, but in transforming them into new drivers of innovation and demand.
Samdja concludes, "The silver society is not the end of civilization, but a new prelude. It allows us to rediscover that the meaning of time is not in calculating years, but in extending the possibilities of life." Against the backdrop of global order restructuring, China is in a unique position to lead the world towards a new paradigm, where prosperity and dignity are aligned, where longevity becomes a form of productivity.