The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) is pleased to join Global FM in sharing a detailed new study that estimates the annual worth of the global facility management (FM) market to be US$1.12 trillion. The findings, which break down data for many individual countries across six regions globally, support the claim that FM is a dynamic industry poised for tremendous growth in the near future. The document is available for immediate download to IFMA members.

“The most compelling visions of the future include smart buildings and cities that require smart professionals to run them,” said IFMA president and CEO, Tony Keane. “The demand for facility services is growing globally, and independently of regional variations in the current levels of FM market development. To meet these increasing demands, many FM professionals are turning to the landmark IFMA-RICS collaboration to unify and advance FM across the globe.”

The study offers in-depth FM market analysis for 33 countries distributed between Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America and South America. Among the findings are that the FM industry remains the most developed in Europe and North America while tremendous opportunities can be found elsewhere if regional challenges can be met. These challenges include an undersupply of labor and FM industry fragmentation.

In April of this year, IFMA and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) announced a transformative collaboration to address both of these challenges by supporting unification through a shared career map, an unprecedented breadth of research and information, and gold-standard FM training opportunities.

The study — which is supported by IFMA as a member of Global FM, a worldwide federation of FM member organizations — can be downloaded by IFMA members for free from IFMA’s Knowledge Library here.