What share of global consumer spending comes from people aged 60 and over? The answer is more than one in four, and that single figure explains why World Data Lab convened leading voices in aging and consumer intelligence for our recent webinar, Spending Longer and Living More.
The conversation, featuring Pedro Ros (founder of Silver Economy), Rachel Bonsignore and Sherry Frey (NielsenIQ), and Regan Leggett (World Data Lab), made one point clear: the aging consumer isn't a niche segment. They're the market.
The silver economy is the market of products and services built specifically for older adults, from home adaptations and senior tourism to longevity health and finance. According to Silver Economy, it is worth $4.5 trillion globally today and growing at 7% a year in real terms, roughly double the rate of overall consumer spending.
Start with the demographic backdrop. Life expectancy has risen from around 50 in the early 1960s to 74 today, and the population aged 60 and over has grown from 200 million to 1.2 billion over the same period. Combined with declining fertility, the over-60 population is now growing more than three times as fast as the population as a whole.
The commercial implication follows directly. Of the roughly $70 trillion that consumers worldwide spend each year, people aged 60 and over — just 15% of the population — account for 27% of consumption, or $19 trillion (Silver Economy). By 2036, that $19 trillion grows to $34 trillion, meaning nearly one in three consumer dollars worldwide will come from someone over 60.
Four core markets make up close to 90% of the silver economy, and spending by older consumers is outpacing the global average at every level:
| Segment | Real growth rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Global consumer spending | +3% | Baseline |
| Consumer spending, 60+ | +5% | Outpacing the global average |
| Silver economy market | +7% | Roughly double the global average |
| Four core markets | — | Senior living & care, longevity health, longevity finance, senior tourism (~90% of the $4.5T total) |
The picture sharpens at the regional, national, and city levels, and the granularity matters.
| Region | Over-60 spending today | By 2036 | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | $7.4 trillion | $11.7 trillion | Largest in absolute terms |
| APAC | $4.9 trillion | $10.2 trillion | Fastest grower; driven by Japan, South Korea, China, and increasingly Singapore and Thailand |
The US remains the single biggest prize. Consider the framing: if America's 86 million over-60s were their own country, they would be the third-highest-spending nation on Earth — behind only the US as a whole and China, and ahead of India, Germany, the UK, and Japan. In dollar terms, US over-60 spending stands at $6.7 trillion today and will add a further $4.4 trillion over the next decade (World Data Lab) — an acceleration, not a plateau.
City-level data sharpens the opportunity further. Cape Coral, Florida, is on track to become the first US city where more than half of all consumer spending comes from someone over 60, crossing that threshold by 2036 — and, on current projections, the only city worldwide above the 50% mark. Other US cities approaching the same tipping point include St. Petersburg, Albuquerque, Philadelphia, Sacramento, and Honolulu. Sun Belt states — Florida, Texas, and Arizona — are set to benefit most from spending growth over the next decade, ahead of the 5.2% national average.
Data from NielsenIQ's Consumer Life study (fielded continuously in the US since 1973) challenges the old narrative of aging as decline. Eight in ten Americans hope to age better than their parents did, and half of Americans aged 60 and over say they feel younger than their actual age.
One counterintuitive finding: it's younger people, not older ones, who are most anxious about aging. Worry about growing old has risen over the past decade, but the sharpest increase is among 18–24 year-olds, alongside a growing willingness in that group to buy specialized health and appearance products preemptively. Anti-aging and wellness, as NIQ's Rachel Bonsignore put it in the webinar, are no longer "a market for older people. It really is on the minds of everyone at every age."
Financially, the over-60 group carries fewer day-to-day burdens — no mortgage stress, no childcare costs, often fewer job-security worries — but remains highly value-conscious. This age group over-indexes on the personal value of thrift, waits for sales, uses coupons, and trades down to private label. And despite having more financial breathing room, 42% of not-yet-retired Americans expect to keep working in retirement, whether for purpose, engagement, or income (NielsenIQ).
Applying a practical lens to the data for brands and retailers, the first myth to retire is that older consumers are offline or resistant to new channels. Boomers are increasingly omnichannel, showing up on platforms like TikTok Shop, particularly in health and beauty — not for entertainment but for education, discovery, and validation. For this consumer, trust and proof matter more than novelty.
In vitamins, minerals, and supplements, spending is concentrated and intentional rather than impulsive, with a focus on heart health, joint health, immunity, and cognitive function. That same condition-led mindset is spreading into food and beverage, where boomers — and increasingly Gen X — buy outcomes rather than products, with rising attention to clean-label and natural claims.
A closing example: the US female 50+ population stands at 67 million today and will grow to 75 million by 2036, with one in five women affected by osteoporosis (NielsenIQ) — an osteoporosis market that will rise from 13.4 million to 15.0 million women. It shows how a broad demographic trend resolves into a specific, addressable, and geographically concentrated opportunity — with cities like Cape Coral, St. Petersburg, and Miami standing out as places where the longevity economy is already arriving at scale.
People aged 60 and over account for 27% of global consumer spending — about $19 trillion a year — despite being 15% of the population. That figure is projected to reach $34 trillion by 2036 (Silver Economy).
The global over-60 population has grown from 200 million to 1.2 billion since the early 1960s and is now expanding more than three times faster than the population as a whole, driven by rising life expectancy and falling fertility (Silver Economy).
Cape Coral, Florida is projected to be the first US city where more than half of all consumer spending comes from people over 60, crossing that threshold by 2036 — and the only city worldwide currently projected above 50% (World Data Lab).
Yes. Boomers are increasingly omnichannel and active on platforms like TikTok Shop, especially in health and beauty — using them for education and validation rather than entertainment (NielsenIQ).
Spending concentrates in health (vitamins, supplements, condition-led nutrition), beauty, financial services, and the home, with a consistent preference for products backed by proof over novelty (NielsenIQ).