Thermometer Market

Growing Demand for Accurate Body Temperature Monitoring Bolsters Thermometer Sales

The Thermometer Market is valued at USD 3.7  Bn in 2026 and is projected to reach USD 6.26  Bn,  growing at a CAGR of 8% by 2033. The temperature of the human body has been used as a diagnostic sign since the earliest days of clinical medicine. A number of diseases are characterised by a change in body temperature (more specifically, fever) and measuring it has been the key to the evolution of healthcare practices, with the thermometer being an integral tool. Fever causes the body temperature to rise above normal levels, which is a part of the body’s natural immune response to any infection. Diverse types of thermometer were created that concentrate on different parts of the body, with some being more effective than others. Like many medical devices, thermometers have improved on efficiency, and accuracy with time. Driven by the infectious disease prevalence and other medical conditions, the continued demand for accurate body temperature monitoring fuels the global thermometer market. The growing need for temperature monitoring for medical, clinical, laboratory, imaging, and industrial purposes will remain the key booster to mounting thermometer sales worldwide.

Temperature readings may vary based on the type of thermometer being used. The most common clinical thermometers used in hospitals and home settings are -

1. Mercury-filled: Slowly disappearing from most countries, withdrawn from circulation from April 2009 in European Union countries. In addition to not being the most accurate one, this type might be very dangerous if broken. The mercury inside is toxic to people and the environment.
2. Alcohol-filled: A safer alternative to the mercury-filled ones, use coloured alcohol that expands when exposed to increased temperature. Both liquid-filled take time to show the temperature.
3. Temperature strips: Widely used in hospitals as a way of quickly determining a patient’s body temperature. These strips contain liquid crystals that react to heat by changing colour. Though fast, are not the most reliable.
4. Infrared: Capable of detecting infrared radiation emitted by hot objects, mostly used to determine a person’s body temperature through their ear (tympanic), or near a person's forehead (temporal). It works almost instantly and can give a precise temperature reading on a small screen.
5. Digital: Fast, accurate, and convenient. With the help of oral, rectal, and armpit digital thermometers, one can see the results within seconds.
6. Basal: Meant for women trying to conceive as it allows them to track their ovulation. It is accurate to 1/100 fraction of a degree.
7. Pacifier: Used predominantly for babies older than three months
8. App-based: Mobile applications that help with taking people’s body temperatures, rely on digital thermometers that link back to apps via Bluetooth connection.

Technical Advancements Provide Safer and User-friendly Alternatives

Gallium thermometers contain galinstan (eutectic alloy of gallium, indium, and tin), which is non-toxic, and thus safe. Phase-change or dot matrix (disposable) thermometers (liquid crystal, chemical). Wearable thermometers are easy to handle, inexpensive, accurate, and provide continuous recordings; connected to a smartphone, or tablet to display data. Many types, such as touch, patch, and invisible (radiometric) are widely available on the market.

A Growing Application Base Boosts Thermometer Market Growth

Many governments mandate thermal scanning at workplaces, which has gained prominence amid the COVID-19 scenario; thermometer guns are thus being purchased in droves. Having temperature checked is becoming a part of the new normal life as the world attempts to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Established and surveillance tech start-ups have quickly leveraged this opportunity to launch new products and websites to sell high-tech solutions to businesses waiting to get back to work.

With features like paired health apps, keeping records, and smart advice when illness strikes, smart thermometers are taking temperature readings to the next level, which are flooding the market place. Some companies (X.Labs ‘feevr.tech’) are combining fever-detection with face recognition and AI-powered sorting of individuals. FLiR's thermal imaging cameras for reading body temperature are approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Fever detection thermal image scanners (the systems are set up at the front side of businesses, and commercial buildings) are already in use across China, and South Korea. In The US as well, businesses such as Vo's chain of grocery stores in Georgia, and Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas, have set up thermal imaging systems.

COVID-19 Outbreak Opens New Avenues and Opportunities 

With the supply-chain breakdown in China, thermometers have been hard to buy in the usual places in U.S. A key tool in the fight against COVID-19 has disappeared from American retail shelves at the worst possible time. Lack of supply and huge demand gives established and emerging players, as well as new entrants, tremendous opportunities to bring innovative and cost-efficient healthcare solutions to fill the gap.

Big items in commercial space are coming with so many physical and technology options, such as fever scanners, temperature detecting tablet, thermal camera systems, and custom temperature sensing kiosks. Automatic Door Systems, Kiosks or Entry Gates like walk-through medical body temperature detector, automatic scan body thermometer gate, walk through medical scan body temperature detector with a camera and a computer, walk-through medical big range scan COVID-19 virus & flu body fever temperature detector are becoming common. The public & commercial places with heavy footfall are airports, bus/ railway stations, homes, hospitals, malls, offices, public parks, retail stores, schools/ college/ universities, theatres and other places that people visit often.

Key Companies in Global Thermometer Market

• Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
• Omron Healthcare, Inc.
• Microlife Corporation
• Welch Allyn (Hill-Rom / Baxter)
• Braun (Procter & Gamble)
• Beurer GmbH
• Geratherm Medical AG
• Philips Healthcare (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Siemens Healthineers AG
• Covidien (Medtronic plc)
• Exergen Corporation
• Rossmax International Ltd.
• A&D Company, Ltd.
• Nihon Kohden Corporation
• Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology Co., Ltd.

Global Thermometer Market Segmnetation

By Product:

• Mercury-based Thermometers
• Mercury-free Thermometers
  • Digital Thermometers
  • Infrared Radiation Thermometers
  • Others

By Application:

• Medical
• Industrial
• Food
• Laboratory
• Others

By Region

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East and Africa