It is of great practical significance to rationally formulate a development strategy for the sports industry to deeply understand and comprehensively grasp the impact of population aging on the development of the sports industry. To study the impact of population aging on the development of the sports industry, panel data at the provincial level in China from 2014 to 2020 are selected, and a mediation effect model is established to test how the aging of the population affects the development of the sports industry through technological innovation. The results show that technological innovation can explain 59.87% of the impact of population aging on the development of the sports industry without considering the control variables, and the impact of population aging on labor productivity through technological innovation is positive. Under the condition of considering the control variables, technological innovation can explain 56.74% of the impact of population aging on the development of the sports industry, and the impact of population aging on the development of the sports industry through technological innovation is positive. The proportion of the population aged 65 and above in the total population was used as a proxy variable for population aging to test the robustness test, and the impact of technological innovation on the development of the sports industry was positive without considering the control variables. In the robustness test considering the control variables, the impact of technological innovation on the development of the sports industry is positive.
Keywords: aging population; education; income inequality; sports industry; technological innovation.