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Dirk Röthig
Dirk Röthig

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Silver Economy 2026: How Aging Societies Create New Markets

#silvereconomy #demographics #seniormarket #innovation

Silver Economy 2026: How Aging Societies Create New Markets

By Dirk Röthig | CEO, VERDANTIS Impact Capital | March 11, 2026

By 2030, more than 30 percent of the EU population will be older than 65. What political debates portray as a demographic crisis is, from an economic perspective, the largest market expansion since digitalization. The Silver Economy — the economic sector encompassing products and services for the 60+ generation — has reached a volume of 5.7 trillion euros in the EU. Dirk Röthig analyzes which industries benefit, which business models are emerging, and why investors should view demographic change as an opportunity.

Tags: Silver Economy, Demographics, Senior Market, Innovation, Digitalization

The Numbers Behind the Megatrend

Demographic change is not a distant forecast — it is measurable reality. The European Commission estimates the volume of the Silver Economy in the EU at 5.7 trillion euros annually, corresponding to approximately one-third of the European Union's gross domestic product (European Commission, 2018). By 2025, according to World Bank estimates, more than 1.4 billion people worldwide will be older than 60 — an increase of 56 percent compared to 2015 (World Bank, 2023). In Germany, 22.4 million people already live above the age of 60, representing 26.8 percent of the total population (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2025).

What these numbers mean economically is something Dirk Röthig has repeatedly emphasized in his role as CEO of VERDANTIS Impact Capital: "Demographic change is not an abstract risk — it is a concrete market with concrete needs. Those who understand these needs unlock volumes worth billions."

The purchasing power of the 60+ generation is the highest of all age groups in many European countries. In Germany, those over 65 have an average net wealth of 256,000 euros — compared to 51,000 euros for those under 35 (Deutsche Bundesbank, 2024). This concentration of wealth among older cohorts shifts consumption patterns: health, comfort, security, and quality of life replace career, mobility, and consumption. For companies, this means a fundamental realignment of their value chains.

Healthcare: The Largest Growth Market

By far the largest sector of the Silver Economy is healthcare. Per capita health expenditure rises exponentially with age: in Germany, per capita spending for those over 85 reaches 14,880 euros annually — more than four times the spending of 30- to 45-year-olds at 3,420 euros (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2024). This effect is compounded by an aging population: the Federal Ministry of Health projects total healthcare spending to rise from the current 474 billion euros to over 600 billion euros by 2030 (BMG, 2025).

Within the healthcare sector, Röthig identifies three growth segments with particular potential:

Digital Health for Seniors. The market for digital health applications (DiGA) for older patients has been growing rapidly in Germany since the introduction of the Digital Care Act in 2019. By the end of 2025, 62 DiGA were listed in the BfArM directory, a significant proportion with a geriatric focus — fall prevention, medication management, cognitive stimulation (BfArM, 2025). Acceptance is rising: according to a Bitkom study, 48 percent of 65- to 75-year-olds in Germany now use at least one health app (Bitkom, 2025).

Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring. The pandemic normalized telemedicine, but for the Silver Economy, it is a necessity. In rural regions, where the nearest specialist is often 40 kilometers away and mobility declines with age, telemedicine becomes basic care. The European telemedicine market will grow from 22.7 billion euros in 2023 to over 78 billion euros in 2030, according to Grand View Research — with an annual growth rate of 19.5 percent (Grand View Research, 2024).

Medical Technology and Assistive Systems. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) — equipping homes with sensor-based assistive systems — enables older people to live independently at home for longer. Dirk Röthig sees a direct connection to impact investment logic here: "AAL systems demonstrably reduce nursing home admissions by 20 to 30 percent. This saves the healthcare system billions while simultaneously improving the quality of life for those affected. This is impact investment in its purest form" (McKinsey Global Institute, 2023).

Housing in Old Age: From Nursing Home to Smart Home

The living situation of older people is changing fundamentally. The days when the path from home ownership to a nursing home was considered inevitable are over. 93 percent of those over 65 in Germany want to stay in their own homes as long as possible (Forsa, 2024). This preference meets a growing supply of technological solutions.

Barrier-Free Housing as a Mass Market. The KfW Banking Group promotes age-appropriate renovation of existing housing through its 455-B program. Demand tripled between 2020 and 2025 — a clear signal that the market for barrier-free housing adaptation is moving from niche product to mass market (KfW, 2025). Investment costs range between 15,000 and 50,000 euros per housing unit; with 22 million housing units that will need adaptation by 2035, a market volume of an estimated 330 to 1,100 billion euros is emerging in Germany alone.

Smart Home Technology for Seniors. The integration of voice control, automatic lighting, fall sensors, and connected household appliances makes apartments age-appropriate without making them look like a hospital. The market for senior-specific smart home solutions is growing at an annual rate of 21 percent, according to Statista, and will reach a volume of 12 billion euros in Europe by 2026 (Statista, 2025). Dirk Röthig is watching this trend closely: "Smart home technology for seniors is not a luxury — it is the cheapest alternative to institutional care. Every euro invested in an intelligent home saves three euros in a nursing home."

Multi-Generational Housing and Co-Housing. Beyond technological solutions, new forms of housing are emerging that prevent social isolation in old age. In the Netherlands, more than 300 co-housing projects for seniors are active; in Germany, the number of multi-generational houses is growing to over 540 funded locations (BMFSFJ, 2025). These projects combine private housing with communal spaces and mutual support — a model that reduces care costs while increasing quality of life.

Financial Services: The Longevity Economy

Rising life expectancy — currently at 81.1 years for women and 76.3 years for men in Germany (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2025) — is fundamentally changing the financial sector. Those who retire at 65 and live to 90 must bridge 25 years financially. This creates demand for new financial products.

Reverse Mortgages and Home Equity Release. In the USA, the reverse mortgage is an established product with a market volume of 98 billion dollars (HUD, 2024). In Europe, the market is still in its infancy but growing at double-digit rates. In Germany, since 2024, several providers have been offering home equity release models that allow older homeowners to liquidate their property wealth without having to move out. Röthig sees enormous untapped potential here: "In Germany, 4.5 trillion euros are locked in private real estate. If just five percent of homeowners over 70 use some form of home equity release, a market of over 200 billion euros emerges."

Retirement Planning 2.0. Traditional funded retirement provision is under pressure from low interest rates and rising life expectancy. New products that hedge longevity risks — such as fund-linked annuities with longevity pooling — are gaining importance. The European market for longevity risk transfer is estimated at over 50 billion euros, according to Swiss Re (Swiss Re, 2024).

Silver Economy Funds. Specialized investment funds investing in Silver Economy companies have recorded inflows of over 15 billion euros in Europe since 2020. Returns average two to three percentage points above the MSCI World — an indicator that the demographic megatrend has not yet been fully priced in by the capital market (Morningstar, 2025).

Mobility and Tourism: The Active 60+ Generation

Today's 60+ generation is more active, healthier, and more travel-minded than any comparable cohort before. In Germany, those over 65 spend approximately 73 billion euros on travel annually — more than any other age group (DRV, 2025). Senior tourism is growing at a rate of seven percent per year, while the overall tourism market stagnates at three percent.

Accessible Tourism. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), 1.3 billion people worldwide have mobility limitations — the overwhelming majority of them age-related. The market for accessible tourism is estimated at 142 billion dollars and is growing at 11 percent per year (UNWTO, 2024). Hotels, airlines, and tour operators that consistently implement accessible offerings tap into a market segment with above-average willingness to pay.

Autonomous Mobility for Seniors. The combination of autonomous driving and ride-hailing creates a mobility solution for people who can no longer or no longer wish to drive themselves. In the USA, 18 percent of those over 65 already regularly use ride-hailing services (AARP, 2024). Dirk Röthig sees autonomous mobility as one of the most important enablers of the Silver Economy: "Mobility is the prerequisite for participation. When autonomous vehicles make seniors in rural regions mobile again, this not only extends their quality of life — it keeps them as consumers in the economic cycle."

Labor Market: Silver Workers as a Strategic Resource

The skilled labor shortage in Europe cannot be solved solely through immigration or automation. An underestimated lever is the integration of older workers. In Germany, 1.4 million people over 65 are already working — an increase of 75 percent compared to 2010 (IAB, 2025). In Japan, which is 20 years ahead of the demographic transition, the employment rate of 65- to 69-year-olds stands at 52 percent (Statistics Bureau Japan, 2025).

Röthig knows the dynamic from his own experience: "As a CEO, I see every day that experience, networks, and judgment do not end at 65. Companies that actively retain and integrate older professionals have a structural competitive advantage." The best companies in the Silver Economy also leverage the potential of their own older workforce: flexible working time models, knowledge transfer programs, and age-mixed teams are not social measures but strategic workforce planning.

Investment Perspective: Why Demographic Change Generates Alpha

For institutional and private investors, the Silver Economy is a megatrend of special quality: it is demographically determined and therefore highly predictable. Unlike technological trends that depend on adoption rates and competition, demographic change is a mathematical certainty — the people who will be over 70 in 2040 have already been born.

Dirk Röthig, whose investment approach at VERDANTIS Impact Capital sits at the intersection of sustainability and measurable impact, sees structural parallels between the Silver Economy and Climate Tech: "Both megatrends are politically desired, regulatorily supported, and demographically inevitable. The question for investors is not whether, but in which segments of the Silver Economy to invest."

The most attractive segments by risk-adjusted return expectations, according to an analysis by Morgan Stanley (2025):

  • HealthTech/MedTech for seniors: 14–18% IRR
  • AAL and Smart Home: 12–16% IRR
  • Senior housing and assisted living: 8–12% IRR
  • Financial products for the Longevity Economy: 10–14% IRR

Risks and Challenges

The Silver Economy is not a risk-free market. Three structural challenges deserve particular attention:

Regulatory Complexity. Health products, care services, and financial products for seniors are subject to strict regulatory requirements. The EU Medical Devices Regulation (MDR), national care laws, and consumer protection directives raise market entry barriers — benefiting established companies but slowing start-ups.

Age Discrimination in Design. Many products for seniors fail because they are designed in a stigmatizing way. The 60+ generation does not want "senior products" — they want products that work well and look good. Companies that apply Universal Design — developing products that are intuitively usable for all age groups — achieve significantly higher market penetration (Nielsen Norman Group, 2024).

Digital Divide. Despite rising smartphone usage among seniors — in Germany, it stands at 79 percent of 65- to 75-year-olds (Bitkom, 2025) — a digital divide persists. 21 percent of the older population remains offline. Business models that rely exclusively on digital channels exclude a relevant portion of the target group.

Conclusion: Embracing Demographic Change as an Opportunity

The Silver Economy is not a niche market — it is Europe's largest growth market. At 5.7 trillion euros in the EU, it exceeds the entire e-commerce market threefold. Health, housing, mobility, finance, and the labor market are being fundamentally transformed by demographic change.

For entrepreneurs and investors like Dirk Röthig, the task lies in interpreting this transformation not as a threat but recognizing it for what it is: the greatest market opportunity of the 21st century. Those who invest in the Silver Economy today — in technologies, services, and infrastructure for an aging society — invest in a demographic certainty.

The question is not whether the Silver Economy will grow. The question is whether Europe will create the framework conditions fast enough to benefit from this growth — or whether Asian and American companies will occupy the markets that Europe's aging societies urgently need.

More Articles by Dirk Röthig

References

  1. European Commission (2018): The Silver Economy — Final Report. Technopolis Group and Oxford Economics. Available at: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/a9efa929-3ec7-11e8-b5fe-01aa75ed71a1
  2. World Bank (2023): Population ages 60 and above — Global Estimates. World Development Indicators. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.65UP.TO
  3. Statistisches Bundesamt (2025): Population of Germany by Age Groups 2024. Available at: https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Bevoelkerungsstand/
  4. Deutsche Bundesbank (2024): Wealth and Finances of Private Households in Germany — Results of the 2023 Wealth Survey. Monthly Report March 2024. Available at: https://www.bundesbank.de/de/publikationen/berichte/monatsberichte
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  6. BMG — Federal Ministry of Health (2025): Health Expenditure in Germany — Forecast to 2030. Available at: https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/themen/krankenversicherung/zahlen-und-fakten
  7. BfArM (2025): DiGA Directory — Digital Health Applications. Available at: https://diga.bfarm.de/de/verzeichnis
  8. Bitkom (2025): Digital Health: Health App Usage by Age Group. Available at: https://www.bitkom.org/Presse/Presseinformation/Gesundheits-Apps
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  12. Statista (2025): Smart Home Market Revenue in Europe — Elderly Care Segment. Available at: https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/smart-home/europe
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  14. Forsa (2024): Housing in Old Age — Representative Survey. Commissioned by BMFSFJ. Available at: https://www.bmfsfj.de/bmfsfj/service/publikationen
  15. HUD — U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2024): HECM Reverse Mortgage Data. Available at: https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/rmra/oe/rptfiles/hecm
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  24. Nielsen Norman Group (2024): Usability for Seniors — Design Guidelines. Available at: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-for-seniors/

About the Author: Dirk Röthig is CEO of VERDANTIS Impact Capital, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. As an entrepreneur and impact investor, he analyzes megatrends at the intersection of demographics, technology, and sustainable value creation. Contact and more articles: verdantiscapital.com | LinkedIn | dirkdirk2424@gmail.com

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