The Silver Generation
Understanding the World's Fastest-Growing Consumer Market
As global populations age, the 60+ consumer is emerging as one of the most significant forces in the global economy, reshaping spending patterns, product design, and marketing strategy across every category. This report explores the scale of that shift and what it means for consumer-facing brands. Here's what it covers.
The Scale of the Shift
Global life expectancy has climbed by 25 years since 1960, while fertility rates have fallen by more than half. The result: the population aged 60 and over now stands at 1.2 billion, growing three times faster than the population as a whole. This group already controls $19 trillion in annual spending, and that figure is set to reach $34 trillion by 2036. The dedicated Silver Economy market, products and services built specifically for older consumers, is worth $4.5 trillion today and growing at 7% a year, more than double the pace of consumer spending generally.
Regional Dynamics
North America leads today and will keep leading through 2036, but Asia-Pacific is closing fast, more than doubling from $4.9 trillion to $10.2 trillion in older-adult spending and overtaking Europe along the way. At a city level, the concentration is already extreme: Cape Coral, Florida is on track to become the first major US city where over half of all spending comes from people over 60.
The United States:
A Case Study in the Longevity Economy
America's 86 million adults aged 60+ spend $6.7 trillion a year, more than the entire economies of India, Germany, or the UK combined would suggest. As a standalone market, they'd rank as the world's third-largest consumer economy. And turning 60 changes what people buy: spending on social protection, medical products, and insurance all rise sharply, while spending on restaurants, clothing, and vehicles falls. Florida, Texas, and Arizona are set to see the fastest growth in older-adult spending over the next decade.
Consumer Psychology
Older consumers see ageing far more positively than most marketing assumes. 81% of Americans hope to age better than their parents did, and 51% of people 60+ say they feel younger than their actual age, a gap that's widened over the past decade. They're also more value-conscious than younger shoppers, more likely to use coupons and shop sales, without being any less willing to pay for products that prove their worth. And the definition of "old" is shifting: people who are actually ageing keep pushing the boundary later, even as younger people grow more anxious about it.
Health, Wellness, and Nutrition
Health is the single fastest-growing spending category for this group. Purchasing data shows older consumers buy broadly across supplements but spend the most on products tied to specific conditions, heart health, digestion, joint support, rather than generic wellness claims. The same pattern holds in food and beverage, where products addressing named conditions consistently command a bigger share of spend. The US osteoporosis market alone is projected to reach $48 billion by 2030.