The International Electrotechnical Commission has released a global standard for elderly-care robots, designed to guide the healthy development of the elderly-care robotics industry.

The standard, led by China during its formulation, provides technical benchmarks for product design, manufacturing, testing, and certification of such robots, according to a statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation released on Thursday.

To meet the multifaceted needs of elderly users in daily living and health care, the standard outlines requirements for elderly-care robots in areas such as accessibility, reliability, energy efficiency, and noise control.

It also puts forward technical requirements for health monitoring services, communication support, activity assistance, as well as information and data management.

The issuance of this standard is expected to guide manufacturers to accurately focus on the characteristics and needs of the elderly in product design and enhance the quality of robot products, so as to nurture new growth drivers of the elderly-care robotics industry, the administration noted.

China has issued policies to encourage the development of smart elderly care amid challenges from the aging population. The latest data shows that by the end of 2024, the population aged 60 and above in the country was 310 million, accounting for 22 percent of its total population. It is predicted that this percentage will further rise to 30 percent by 2035, with the elderly population to exceed 400 million by then.