Shadowing advances in the fast-growing global healthcare industry, the Asian medical device market is expected to grow from USD $30.43 billion in 2006 to USD $43.08 billion by 2010 for five key Asian countries, according to Asian Medical Device Markets, a new report by Kalorama Information.

All five countries studied-Australia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea-support large import programs, some importing as much as 90 percent of the medical devices consumed in their countries, especially complex diagnostic and imaging equipment. Kalorama Information expects this practice to remain a primary factor for growth over the next four years.

China, whose imports form almost 70 percent of the country's medical device market, is expected to light up the charts with an expected compound dannual growth rate of nearly 24%, driven by a greater demand for high-quality, high-technology medical devices and for products that comply with international standards. Japan, the largest of the five markets studied and the most saturated, is expected to experience the least growth at 1.5%.

Although rising income and health consciousness will increase market growth for China and India, an aging population will play a major role in Australia's, South Korea's, and Japan's market growth as their "65 years and above" population steadily increases.

"Persons aged over 65 years typically spend four times more on healthcare expenditure than those under 65," said Steven Heffner, publisher of Kalorama Information. "Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world at 81 years, and its over 65 age group is expected to occupy almost 22 percent of the population by 2010."