Socio-demographic changes are varying the composition of society so that the percentage of elderly and disabled people is on the up.

Nowadays the proportion of people over 65 years old in Spain is 16.6% although this is expected to rise to 20% by 2020 and 36% by 2050. On a European level, this figure stands at around 17% of the population with the potential to reach 20% by 2020 and 30% by 2050: we are talking about 135 million people. Worldwide the number of people over 65 years old is calculated at 421 million (in 2000) so that this could reach almost 1,500 million by 2050 (tripling current figures).

On the other hand, regarding people with disabilities, the current proportion in Spain stands at 9% of the population. On a European level this figure is 15.7% and in total, in the world we are talking about between 600 and 900 million people.

Furthermore, the population with no disabilities or under 65 years old also has accessibility needs due to temporary limitations, as a consequence of injuries, carrying weight, or each person having different anthropometrical characteristics, etc.

On the other hand, promoting employment and improving the quality of life for this population segment means that they can participate in an increasing number of fields of society, so it is necessary to adapt the existing products and services to their needs and create new solutions, thereby opening the door to a new market with great potential.

Taking into account only minor, moderate and severe disabilities, long term health problems and elderly population with accessibility needs, the demand for accessibility requirements in the 25 European countries increases to over 127 million people.Specifically, in Spain, this affects 23.5% of the population.

If we add temporary limitations to this percentage, we find that accessibility demand stands to benefit practically the whole population.