China's healthcare industry will be the engine of so-called green GDP growth, which means environmentally sustainable economic growth, analysts said.
The central government has issued a guideline on strengthening ecological development that advocates energy conservation and emission reductions to protect the environment.
The focus on environmental protection is being seen as a new trigger of the evolution in the healthcare industry, Zhang Jianxing, vice president of People's Daily, said at a forum about ecology and healthcare held Wednesday in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province.
As companies are implementing concepts like eco-friendliness and healthcare in their marketing strategies, there will be a growing market for environmentally friendly products in the future, he noted.
Long Yongtu, former vice minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation, noted that as the population is aging rapidly and the middle class is growing, industries related to the Internet, energy-efficiency, travel and retirement living will have more room to grow.
Healthcare spending is increasing rapidly in China, according to a healthcare outlook study published by consulting firm Deloitte in January. The country's annual expenditure is projected to grow at an average rate of 11.8 percent a year from 2014 to 2018 and will reach $892 billion by 2018, which will mainly be driven by increasing incomes and the government's healthcare reform.
In a survey conducted by multinational professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in October 2014, nearly 80 percent of 160 people who participated in the study said the digitalization will significantly change the healthcare market in the country.
As the healthcare industry will reach 8 trillion yuan ($1.3 trillion) by 2020, companies are embracing new opportunities in the healthcare industry, said Wu Danxing, a professor who specializes in healthcare study at Beijing Geely University, during the forum.
