Elderly Population To Facilitate Durable Medical Equipment Use in Europe 

The European Union (EU) states that approximately 20.0%, 19.1%, 18.7%, 18.2%, 19.5%, 23.2%, 20.4%, and 21.8% of the people in Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and Germany, respectively, were aged 65 years or over in 2020. As old people are extremely vulnerable to chronic diseases, their ballooning population will push up the demand for durable medical equipment (DME), such as monitoring and therapeutic equipment, medical furniture, personal safety equipment, and bathroom safety equipment, in the European region in the coming years.

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Additionally, the increasing incidence of chronic illnesses and lifestyle-associated diseases will drive the European durable medical equipment market at a CAGR of 6.6% during the forecast period (2019–2024). According to P&S Intelligence, the market revenue stood at $37.9 billion in 2018 and, it will reach $55.4 billion by 2024. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) states that 35.6% of the European population aged 50–79 years will be living with type 2 diabetes by 2040. It also forecasts that nearly 71.1 million adults aged 20–79 years will be diagnosed with diabetes in the region, by 2040.

The end user segment of the European durable medical equipment market is categorized into ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), hospitals, home care settings, and others. Under this segment, the hospitals category generated the highest revenue in 2017 due to the surging government reimbursements on patient care for inpatient facilities. The EU estimates that Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, Russia, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Belgium, and Sweden is currently spending around 34.8%, 37.1%, 37.5%, 33.4%, 73.6%, 30.2%, 40.4%, 32%, 45.2%, 36.35, and 28.4%, respectively, of their healthcare expenditure on inpatient care. 

Geographically, Germany accounted for the largest share in the European durable medical equipment market in 2017 due to the presence of numerous hospitals and the high footfall of patients in these healthcare settings of the country. Statistisches Bundesamt states that the total number of hospitals in Germany surged from 1,925 in 2018 to 1,914 in 2019. It also reveals that the total number of cases in hospitals of the country increased from 19,392,466 in 2018 to 19,415,555 in 2019. 

Thus, the expanding population base of elderly people and rising cases of chronic and lifestyle-related diseases will fuel the usage of DME in the European region.