With a rapidly ageing population and increasing prevalence of hypertension, there is a growing number of people that need to monitor their blood-pressure at home. Whilst the more established home-use digital blood-pressure monitor markets in Western Europe and North America are reaching saturation, the emerging BRIC markets are becoming more aware of lifestyle-related disease prevention and are investing heavily to improve healthcare provisions, driving growth of the blood-pressure monitors market.
A new report from InMedica (www.in-medica.com) titled “World Market for Home-Use Digital Blood Pressure Monitors – 2011 Edition” predicts that the blood-pressure monitors market in the BRIC countries will grow at a CAGR of 9.5% (between 2010 and 2014).
Home-use digital blood-pressure monitors have been available for many years and growth in the more established markets, like the US, Germany and Japan, has slowed down as they have become saturated. In the recent years increasing unemployment rates, high domestic debt, and falling asset prices, have negatively impacted consumer spending in these countries. The market in the BRIC countries will grow fastest; its market size, in both revenues and units, is forecast to increase steadily to 2014. Neha Khandelwal, Market Analyst commented, “increased hypertension prevalence and increasing per capita income in the developing countries is driving growth in the blood-pressure monitors market. Over the last few years income per capita has gradually increased in the BRIC countries and consumers have more disposable income to spend on non-essential items, such as blood-pressure monitors. Moreover, awareness of lifestyle-related disease prevention is increasing”. Consumers in BRIC countries have historically used a relatively high proportion of mercury and aneroid blood-pressure monitors. These have gradually been replaced by digital types, especially as the price of digital monitors has fallen.
The BRIC countries are forecast to account for almost a third of the world market for home-use blood-pressure monitoring by 2014.