The global market is large in scale and has entered a period of stable growth.
The global eyewear market has already formed a huge market volume of tens of billions of dollars, and it will continue to maintain a steady growth trend in the future. According to Statista data, the global eyewear market size was 146.22 billion US dollars in 2024, and it is expected to rise to 151.38 billion US dollars in 2025 and reach 172.73 billion US dollars by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.36% during the forecast period. Euromonitor data shows that the global eyewear market size was 154.727 billion US dollars in 2024, and it is expected to reach 203.455 billion US dollars by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.70% from 2024 to 2030. Additionally, according to Fortune Business Insights' prediction, the global eyewear market size will reach 181.75 billion US dollars in 2025, and will further increase to 285.44 billion US dollars by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.70% during the forecast period.
2. Developed regions have a leading market size, and several African countries have the fastest growth rates.
From a regional perspective, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America account for nearly 90% of the global market share. According to Statista data, in 2024, the eyewear market sizes in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America were $44.88 billion, $40.95 billion, and $40.85 billion respectively, accounting for 30.69%, 28.01%, and 27.94% of the global market share respectively. The combined share of these three regions accounted for 86.64% of the global market, representing nearly 90%. It is predicted that from 2025 to 2029, the compound annual growth rates of the eyewear lens market sizes in these three regions will be 2.53%, 3.15%, and 3.28% respectively, with a slightly slower growth rate. The Middle East and North Africa region has the fastest growth rate. Data shows that in 2025, the eyewear market size in the Middle East and North Africa region will reach $6.93 billion, and will further increase to $9 billion by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.76% during the forecast period, which is 3.4 percentage points higher than the global average growth rate, making it the region with the fastest growth.
From a national perspective, the market size of the United States is significantly larger than that of other countries. Data shows that in 2024, the top ten countries in the global eyewear market were the United States, China, Germany, France, Japan, India, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, and Italy. Among them, the United States and China were the only countries in the world with eyewear market sizes exceeding 10 billion US dollars. The United States had a market size of 352.13 billion US dollars, significantly leading other countries. It is worth noting that India was the only country among the top ten with a growth rate exceeding the global average growth rate of 5.26% in the next five years. In terms of growth potential, several African countries have considerable growth potential. From 2025 to 2029, among the top ten countries with the greatest growth potential (only counting the data of countries that have reached a scale of over 100 million US dollars), African countries accounted for five positions, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, and Egypt. Among them, Ethiopia's growth rate led the world. Data shows that in 2025, the eyewear market size in Ethiopia will reach 562 million US dollars, and it will further increase to 874 million US dollars by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 11.64%, which is 8.28 percentage points higher than the global average growth rate.
3. The market for lens customization is the largest, and AI glasses have become a new driving force for the industry's development.
From the perspective of market segments, the lens market segment has the largest scale, and the contact lens market is growing rapidly. In the lens market, according to Statista data, the global related market size in 2024 was 60.740 billion US dollars, accounting for 41.54% of the overall market share, which exceeded 40%, making it the largest segmented market. It is expected that the global lens market size will increase to 62.620 billion US dollars in 2025 and reach 70.350 billion US dollars by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 2.95% from 2025 to 2029. Consumers are increasingly paying attention to vision protection issues, which has driven the growth of functional lens demand and led to the continuous growth of the lens market in the future. Thanks to the continuous popularization of daily disposable contact lenses and the wide application of silicone hydrogel materials, the contact lens market is growing rapidly. Data shows that the global contact lens market size was 19.1 billion US dollars in 2024, and is expected to further increase to 19.830 billion US dollars in 2025, reaching 23.030 billion US dollars by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.81% from 2025 to 2029, making it the fastest-growing segmented market.
The empowerment of AI is driving the development of the smart glasses market. At present, considering that the maturity and development speed of AI applications will be higher than those of display technologies, AI will accelerate the development of the smart glasses market and also inject new impetus into the development of traditional eyewear industries. For example, in 2023, Meta collaborated with Ray-Ban to launch the second-generation product Ray-Ban Meta, which introduced Meta's AI functions. The product sales exceeded market expectations, pushing the market development into a fast lane. According to The Verge statistics, as of May 2024, the global sales of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have exceeded 1 million units. At the same time, according to Wellsenn XR's prediction, starting from 2025, AI smart glasses will accelerate their penetration into the traditional eyewear market. Data shows that in 2029, the annual sales of AI smart glasses are expected to reach 55 million pairs, and by 2035, they are expected to further increase to 1.4 billion pairs, with the penetration rate rapidly climbing to 70%. To seize the opportunity of the AI smart glasses trend, many domestic and international technology giants such as Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon, Xiaomi, and Huawei have all made arrangements.
The market size has reached a hundred-billion level, and contact lenses are leading the market growth.
Based on data from major domestic and international market research institutions, the eyewear industry in China has reached a market size of hundreds of billions of yuan and is expected to continue growing in the future. In terms of US dollars, according to Statista statistics, the market size of the Chinese eyewear industry in 2024 was 15.297 billion US dollars. It is projected to increase to 15.772 billion US dollars in 2025 and reach 17.622 billion US dollars by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 2.81% from 2025 to 2029. In terms of RMB, the "2025 White Paper on Comfortable Eyeglasses in China" released by iResearch shows that the retail market size of the eyewear industry in China in 2024 was 94.4 billion RMB. It is expected to increase to 121.0 billion RMB by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.63% during this period. Additionally, according to Euromonitor data, the market size of the eyewear industry in China in 2024 was 102.156 billion RMB, and it is projected to increase to 107.220 billion RMB in 2025 and reach 129.505 billion RMB by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.03% from 2024 to 2030. In the future, driven by favorable factors such as continuous technological iterations in lens and frame materials and the accelerated penetration of functional eyewear, the market will maintain a growth trend.
From the perspective of market segments, the two major segments of lenses and frames have relatively large market sizes, while the segment of contact lenses has the fastest growth rate. The market size of the lens segment is the largest. According to Euromonitor data, the market size of lenses in China will be 38.350 billion yuan in 2024, and will increase to 48.462 billion yuan from 2025 to 2030 at a growth rate of 3.90%. The market size of frames follows closely. Data shows that the market size of frames in China will be 35.848 billion yuan in 2024, and is expected to increase to 44.963 billion yuan by 2030, making it the second largest segment. The segment of contact lenses has the fastest growth rate. In 2024, the market size of contact lenses in China was 12.092 billion yuan, and it will increase to 13.556 billion yuan in 2025, reaching 17.073 billion yuan by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.70% from 2025 to 2030.
From the perspectives of the global and Chinese best spectacles markets, the brand building in China's cycling eyewear industry still has a long way to go. Enterprises should attach great importance to brand building, continuously enhance their product innovation capabilities, optimize customer service, make good use of products and services to build brand reputation, and actively adopt new social media marketing methods to further enhance brand awareness and reputation, thereby building the core competitiveness for long-term development of the enterprise.
