The Security Market in Germany: Facts and Figures
In 2020 and 2021 the security market in Germany continued the expansion it’s living in recent years despite the pandemic.
According to industry figures, presented by Messe Essen, in 2021 individual sectors increased their total turnover by 13.4% to 24.15 billion Euros over the pre-corona year of 2019. Their 7.5% sales growth against 2020 is equally significant, such that the loss of revenue that was expected at the start of the pandemic turned out to be far less serious than was initially feared. Servicing, repairs and updating work during the lockdown phases have made a major contribution to
this growth.
Facts, figures and data were presented on September 8 by the organizers of Security Essen, that will gather the international security sector at Messe Essen, from the 20th to the 23rd September 2022.
Facts and Figures about the security market in Germany
In particular, a significant rise in revenue during 2019 to 2021 was generated by the IT security industry, while security services also greatly increased their 2021 turnover compared with previous years. According to the data presented by BDSW, VDMA, BHE, FVSB, FAS, and Bitkom, in 2021 the total revenue of the many sectors of the security industry was of 24.15 billion Euro (in 2020, it was 22.47 billion Euro).
Security services
In the 2019-2021 period, the security services sector saw a growth by 11.9%, with the pandemic providing it with an ongoing turnover growth: chief sources include the checks that had to be carried out in many places to implement the various corona rules, such as in retail businesses or individual companies, but also surveillance assignments for vaccination centers and logistics. In spite of this, staff shortages due to the pandemic and the growth in the amount of work pose a challenge, with many positions still vacant: in 2019, 265.000 people were employed in the sector – in 2021 the number decreased to 259.000.
Property security continues to take the main share of the 2021 turnover (50%), followed by airport security (11%), emergency call and service centers (10%) and then money and asset services (7%).
Electronic security technology
In 2020, the electronic security technology industry achieved a small growth of 1.6% over 2019, with a turnover of 4.6 billion Euros. The situation significantly improved in 2021, with a rise of 6.2% over 2019 and a total turnover of around 4.9 billion Euros, while 2021 witnessed another growth in almost every sector, with the exception of assault and intruder alarm systems with a slight drop of 1.2%.
During the same period, video surveillance increased by 15%, a result that can be attributed to the mobile, flexible solutions in this sector, especially for checking compliance with corona rules – such as mask wearing and solutions for measuring temperatures. Fire alarm systems also reported a solid growth of 5.5%. Fire safety benefited from the stable construction industry in 2020 and 2021, combined with loans from the KfW bank and comparatively favorable mortgage interest rates. Burglar alarm systems suffered a decline in 2020, but in 2021 managed to show a slight increase of 0.6% against the previous year.
The access control sector also benefited from modernization projects and the requirement to impose pandemic restrictions, with a turnover growth of 13.5% during the period 2019 – 2021. Smart access and payment systems continue to grow in the retail sector, while during the pandemic organizers continued to increasingly rely on mobile solutions for registration and tracking. One particular highlight is the jump in the sale of voice alarm systems with an above-average rise of 15%, with modernization projects in particular likely to be the driver for this growth during the pandemic.
As shown by BHE data, the total revenue of the electronic security technology in 2021 was 4,905 million Euro.
Locks and fittings
The locks and fittings industry also enjoyed strong growth, with over 11.9% in 2021 compared with the previous year, not least owing to a stable construction industry. The 2021 revenue was 1.32 billion Euro, while in 2020 it was 1.18 billion Euro.
Mechanical security engineering continues to account for the largest share as against mechatronic and electronic security technology. With cylinder locks for building doors, the 2021 production volume totaled 126.5 million Euros for mechanical products compared with 44.1 million Euros for mechatronic and electronic products. A range of funding schemes at national, regional and local level that increased initiatives to raise awareness of intruder protection have also had positive effects, with the result that the pandemic period has also been widely used for upgrades in private homes. The safes and strongboxes industry has also reported steady growth for some time now.
IT security
Numerous reports of hacking attacks on businesses and the public sector have demonstrated the importance of IT security in an age of advancing digitizing in all areas of industry. Effective IT security is indispensable given the networking of trades (Internet of Things, IoT), the outsourcing of important functions and databases in the cloud, and the strong growth in the importance of AI. Cyber-attacks can have catastrophic effects on the economy and government agencies in particular, so the strong growth of almost 35% from 2019 to 2021 is not surprising.
Growth in 2021 was more than 10.7% over the previous year, with nearly 10% being the target for the current year. Services account for the biggest share of the total market by a long way, with 50%. Spending in 2021 compared with 2020 is reckoned to amount to 3.1 billion Euro, a rise of 9.8%. Security software is growing by 11.4%. Ongoing crises such as the Ukraine conflict should also contribute to the demand for IT security continuing to grow strongly in years to come, especially in the state sector, alongside awareness campaigns for industry and private users.
Pictures by Security Essen – Messe Essen.
