Aging Asia-Pacific Pushes APEC to Rethink Work and Care
With people aged 65 and older now making up 15 percent of the APEC region’s population, more than double the share in 1990, economies are strengthening long-term care and turning to digital technologies to support healthy ageing and economic stability.
Meeting in Dalian last month for the APEC Health Working Group plenary meeting, policymakers, academia and health practitioners stressed the need to make healthy aging a joint economic priority to prevent larger disruptions to labor force growth and public finances.
“The health of the more than 2.9 billion people in our region is far more than a medical matter, it is a key driver of economic stability and sustainable growth.” said Dr Junghwan Park, Chair of the APEC Health Working Group.
“APEC economies need to harness innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) across all areas of health care and foster collaboration with open minds to confront structural challenges such as demographic shifts.”
The APEC Policy Support Unit reported the majority of APEC economies face birth rates below the level needed to sustain their populations, leaving fewer working-age adults to support a growing older population. Delegates warned that such a trend will push public debt to unsustainable levels as healthcare costs rise and tax revenues shrink.
Discussions examined how care work is broader than nurses and doctors, encompassing family members, volunteers and the wider community who bridge daily gaps in support, from transport to emotional and social care. However, delegates noted much of this work remains unpaid and unrecognized in financing and workforce planning.
Delegates urged economies to incorporate care work into workforce plans and strengthen links to the formal care system, alongside better public support for family carers, including counselling and better resources and training in elderly care.
The meeting also focused on the importance of early detection and monitoring of brain health for elders, with China National Health Development Research Center reporting that stroke is the leading cause of death in the Asia-Pacific region with healthcare resources lacking behind.
Economies are also turning to technology and community centers to catch dementia and other brain health risks early. Delegates pointed to AI-assisted appointment bookings, regular free brain health screenings within elderly community centers and digital brain training programs designed to help patients change habits before symptoms worsen.
Long-term care and wider use of digital health tools are among the main focuses of the APEC Healthy Aging Action Plan 2026-2030, which brings today's discussions into a single regional framework built around helping older people thrive, stay healthy and continue contributing to society and the economy.
The plan also pushes economies to shift from treating illness to preventing it earlier, and from fragmented services to joined-up care that follows people from diagnosis through end of life. Stronger governance, community engagement and better research, economies urge, are what will make that shift possible across such a diverse region.
The work now shifts from framework to practice, as economies begin applying these commitments to health systems that ensure care workers are valued and better equipped, while elders can age healthily and with dignity across the Asia-Pacific. A region that cares well for its elders, delegates said, is one that safeguards its own long-term economic strength.
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