Changing demographics and perceptions offer unprecedented innovative opportunities for entrepreneurs in healthcare. Sometimes the best ideas come from this simple analysis: To where at we heading at? Change is around us, if we look carefully to trends in demographics we may anticipate great opportunities. Here’s my personal list of demographic trends worth watching:

#1. Population is getting older. This is the most obvious one, healthcare products and services targeted to 60 years old and more will continue appearing. At year 2000, 12.4% of the population was at least 65 years old. By 2030, that percent is expected to reach almost 20%. Most of money spent on health care comes from people who are either very sick or very old.

#2. Europe takes care of the disabled. We can anticipate society will take care of more and more disabled / dependent people. Important funds are being transferred to those people (dependency laws), and we can foresee great opportunities in this space.

#3. Sixty is the new forty. Sixty year olds want to live as active as possible, they don’t want to look old. This change in perception has created a vast market for healthcare magazines, alternative medicine, physical fitness centers, other “wellness” services, cosmetic surgery, etc…

#4. Immigration is changing our culture. Every year more and more immigrants blend into the “first world”. There’s a higher mix of cultures, and we can anticipate services and products targeted to those special communities.

#5. Chronic diseases on the rise. It’s well known that five diseases – diabetes, obesity, depression, coronary artery disease, and hypertension – gobble up 70% of total health costs. The advancement of medicine allows patients to cope better with chronic diseases and those patients will live longer and will demand products and services that bring convenience and excellence to their lives.

#6. Physician Shortages. Laws of supply and demand will make physicians a more precious commodity. Services or products that could eliminate redundancies in the provision of healthcare and make a better use of the available physicians will trigger a lot of interest.