IDC Forecasts Worldwide Page Volumes to Rebound In 2021, But Will Not Reach Pre-COVID-19 Levels

Total worldwide page volumes printed from office and home devices* plummeted nearly 14% year over year in 2020 after several years of stable but slow decline. According to new research from International Data Corporation (IDC), 2.8 trillion pages were printed in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatic shift from offices to work from home models are behind the sharp decline.

The shift in work environments also produced different dynamics for pages printed on laser versus inkjet devices. Laser MFPs and printers are mostly located in the office environment. Due to the impact of lockdowns and the shift to working from home offices, laser pages declined sharply, down 16% year over year in 2020. This decline was even more pronounced for A3 devices. In contrast, pages printed on inkjet devices increased 4% over 2019. Inkjet devices at home that were mostly used for personal printing prior to the pandemic were quickly brought into use for work and school-related printing.

According to IDC's 2021 end-user survey, about half the pages printed by office workers working from home during the pandemic were work-related documents. IDC conducted a large global survey (n=4,700) with full-time employees whose work location was impacted by COVID-19. This survey was designed specifically around the impact of COVID-19 on page volumes in the work from home segment.

A graphic showing regional survey results for the portion of printing done at home for work, school, and personal purposes is available by viewing this press release on IDC.com.

IDC expects worldwide page volumes to rebound 2% year over year in 2021 but will not reach pre-pandemic levels. From 2022 onward, page volumes will return to a declining trend, falling faster than prior to COVID-19. While many workers are expected to return to the workplace full time, a greater percentage are expected to work from home either full time or part time than before the pandemic.

A graphic illustrating IDC's worldwide page volume forecast through 2025 is available by viewing this press release on IDC.com.

"Pages printed at home will not offset declines in offices as organizations and governments continue to pursue paperless initiatives and digital transformation agendas," said Ilona Stankeova, senior research director, Imaging Devices & Document Solutions, IDC Europe. "In 2025, there will be around 2.3 trillion pages printed. Despite the decline this amount still represents about 4.4 million pages being printed globally every minute covering the area of 39 football fields every minute."

In addition to a baseline forecast, IDC provides forecasts based on optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. In the optimistic scenario, the five-year CAGR for worldwide page volume will be -1.9%. In the pessimistic scenario, the worldwide page volume CAGR will be -5.1%.

* Note: Office and home devices include laser printers, MFPs, SF DCs with speed range of Color Laser 1-69ppm and Mono Laser 1-90ppm, and inkjet printers and MFPs excluding high-speed inkjet.

IDC's Page Volume Program

IDC's Page Volume Program quantifies worldwide page volumes and install base (units) for home and office devices and includes segmentation by product (laser/inkjet), product detail (color/mono) product category (multifunction peripheral (MFP), single function printer, single function digital copier (SF DC)), device format (A2/A3, A4), speed, supplies type (OEM/non-OEM), The core program reports on seven geographic regions and is further customizable with country and/or custom region definitions. Company and brand share details are available for an additional fee. The core program includes a supplemental presentation that annotates key trends and provides qualitative market insights to help accelerate customer use of the dataset.

For more information about IDC's Worldwide Page Volume Program, please contact Ilona Stankeova (istankeova@idc.com) or Eiji Ishida (eishida@idc.com).

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology, IT benchmarking and sourcing, and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data, and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights.

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Total worldwide page volumes printed from office and home devices declined nearly 14% year over year in 2020 according to new research from IDC.