Asia’s Attractive Demographics

It is no secret that Western medical device companies eagerly are looking East for sales, investment and expansion. Currently, Asia’s medical device market is estimated to be $55 billion, about 22 percent of the global medical device market. The medical device market in Asia has a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent and is expected to exceed $70 billion by 2015. Asia’s medical device market growth rate is higher than the global medical device market growth rate, which is about 4 percent. Asia’s medical device market growth is heavily influenced by three major factors: large population size, strong economic growth and rapidly aging populations.

Population Equation
Asia is an attractive market for Western medical device companies due to the sheer size of its population. The global population is approximately 7 billion, with 4.5 billion people calling Asia home. The most populous country, China, has 1.3 billion people. India is close behind with a population of 1.2 billion. The smaller Southeast Asian countries also are highly populated. Indonesia has approximately 250 million people, and Vietnam has a population of 100 million. Southeast Asian countries also are becoming more developed with rapid economic growth; thus, they have a significant need for more advanced medical devices.

By the (Economic) Numbers
Strong economic growth in Asian countries also contributes to the region’s growing medical device market. In fact, despite the global economic downturn, Asia is the fastest growing region, enjoying a 5 to 8 percent growth rate of gross domestic product. Comparatively, the United States and Europe have been growing slowly, at a max of 2.5 percent. This strong economic growth means that Asian countries have the resources to invest more in their healthcare markets.

Additionally, Asia’s middle class is expanding more quickly than any of the other continents. Asia is expected to be the home of more than 50 percent of the world’s middle class population by 2030. This rising Asian middle class is projected to increase consumer spending to $30 trillion by 2020 from $5 trillion in 2009. The Asian middle class is expected to be responsible for 60 percent of global middle class spending by 2020. The majority of the Asian middle class also lives in urban cities that easily are accessible to international medical device companies.

As the Asian population experiences increases in wealth, the healthcare sector in Asia will expand as well. Asian countries such as China, India and Vietnam already have made the development of healthcare products and services a top priority. China sharply has increased the amount of funding toward medical device research and product development to position the country as a rival to the United States in the future. The Indian government has pledged, at least in theory, to double public spending on healthcare by 2017 in order to provide “free” healthcare to all of its citizens. As the spending power of Asian countries increases, Asian consumers also have become increasingly brand conscious. This will lead to a rise in demand for higher end quality Western medical devices.

We’re All Getting Older
As of 2010, the average life expectancy for people in Asia is 70 years. The average life expectancy is expected to rise to 75 years within the next 30 years. Due to longer life spans, Asia’s elderly citizens are rapidly becoming a higher percentage of the overall population. The number of senior citizens is expected to continue to increase—by 2050, senior citizens older than 60 years of age are estimated to constitute 25 percent of the Asian population, a significant increase from 10 percent in 2012. Such demographic trends are leading to growth opportunities for Western medical device companies, especially those specializing in geriatric products. As Asia’s population ages, more Western devices will be needed.


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These three factors—population size, economic growth and aging populations—will continue to contribute to a robust Asian medical device market. The cardiovascular, diabetes, infection disease and orthopedic sectors are expected to experience the most growth within the Asian medical device markets. With such positive prospects for the future, Western medical device companies should give Asia serious consideration for further expansion and investment.

Ames Gross is president and founder of Pacific Bridge Medical, a Bethesda, Md.-based consulting firm that helps medical companies doing business in the Asia market. A recognized national and international leader in the Asian medical markets, he founded Pacific Bridge Medical in 1988, which has helped hundreds of medical companies with business development and regulatory issues in Asia. For more information, visit www.pacificbridgemedical.com.