A company in China has designed an inflatable belt to protect the elderly if they fall. The belt works like an airbag in a car, which the company used to make, before realising the potential of catering to consumer demands from China's ageing population.
A micro gyroscope is used to detect the speed of the fall and angle of the wearer and a microprocessor is used to trigger the airbag. China's population growth rate continued to slow in 2018, spelling possible trouble ahead as a swelling number of retirees pushes up against a shrinking labour pool. Figures released in January by the National Bureau of Statistics put the population at 1.395 billion in 2018. Care for the elderly is a rising government concern as the working-age population continues to fall as a percentage of the total.