The Changing Nature of the Assisted Mobility Market

The mobility aid devices market in the US is expected to grow from $9.5 billion in 2021 to $15.6 billion by 2031.

Health-compromising situations among the geriatric population are leading to an increase in the need for mobility aid devices around the globe. A steady growth is expected due to a rise in the disabled population, while innovations in powered wheelchairs and mobility lifts are arising from the new technologies now at hand.

Mobility disorders are the most common type of illness, and the mobility aid products now available provide social participation, independence, and autonomy.  The devices themselves are now so much in demand that devisors are making them lighter, more flexible with an improved efficiency.

The population of people aged 65 and over is expected to increase rapidly in the next few years, and therefore, the dependency on mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs will only climb.

Understanding the nature of the disability is key to designing the device in question, with users’ size and demographic crucial to the process. Developments include smart wheelchairs which stay on the pavement and avoid rough patches, innovations in mobility scooter technology, and assistive technologies for the visually impaired. There are features on the roads, such as marker-free smart byways, and in warehouses or supermarkets, revolutions with robots able to provide assistance in reaching a desired shelf or position may well be customary in the future. In the home, robotized domestic assistants are planned for those whose needs demand the necessary help.

New technologies coupled with an increasingly older population are facilitating greater opportunities for companies who are in the market for assisted mobility devices. Those in the population of an age of 60 and over in the UN are expected to double by 2050 and triple by 2100. Globally, the geriatric population is increasing faster than the young age group.

The demand for personal mobility aids is also growing because long-term care provided by local dwelling family members is declining, structurally changing those benefits that the disabled previously felt. This is providing innovators with ideas, relating to those in need, about how to develop a new range of mobility-aiding devices.

Such devices now include powered wheelchairs, standing wheelchairs, power assists, walkers, and patient lifts.

With the increase in debilitating diseases will come the growing need for assisted chairs, most notably the wheelchair, the demand for which is expected to outperform the need for comfortable chairs, stable chairs, and custom and lightweight chairs segments, due to their mobility feature.

The wheelchair segment took up 50% of the global mobility aid market in 2021. The high presence of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s in society will only increase this figure, due to those diseases’ ability to affect mobility.

There are various features that provide us with a fragmented view of the mobility aid market due to the huge variety of products needed. Research and development will see the market adjust with the major players all determining the focus that will provide customers with the necessary device tailor-made for them. The profile of who the major players are currently determined by their company overview, business strategies, product portfolio, business segments, and recent developments.