Global Contactless Biometrics Market Set for 18.3% CAGR as Governments and Enterprises Embrace Touchless Security

The global contactless biometrics market is projected to reach USD 81.6 billion by 2032, up from USD 21.5 billion in 2024, growing at a CAGR of 18.3% during 2025–2032. This strong expansion is driven by rising demand for hygienic and secure authentication solutions, increasing security concerns, and supportive government initiatives worldwide. The shift toward digital identity — exemplified by initiatives like making national identity systems contactless (e.g., facial authentication for certain services) — is accelerating adoption across sectors such as banking, finance, government, and airports.

The market is fragmented, with a mix of software, hardware, and services playing key roles. Among these, software currently commands the largest share, underscoring the growing importance of flexible, scalable biometric solutions over standalone devices.

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Key Insights

• The software component held more than 45% share in 2024, making it the largest segment — and it is also the fastest-growing category during the forecast period. This reflects increasing demand for software-driven biometric solutions that are compatible across diverse devices and applications. 
• In terms of technology, face recognition dominated in 2024 due to its reliability, affordability, and wide acceptance. However, iris recognition is forecast to register the highest growth rate between 2024 and 2032 — this is attributed to its superior security performance, as iris scans (using infrared imaging) eliminate several limitations associated with facial recognition.
• From an end-user perspective, the government sector is the leading contributor, accounting for around 30% of revenue in 2024. Governments globally are increasingly deploying contactless biometric systems for criminal identification, forensics, border security, and public-sector access control. 
• The banking and financial services (BFSI) sector is also a major adopter. Institutions in this vertical are rolling out contactless biometric solutions to strengthen identity verification, prevent fraud, and ensure secure financial transactions — addressing the inefficiencies of traditional authentication methods such as PINs, passwords, or tokens.
• On the regional front, North America remains the largest market (about 35% share in 2024), driven by high-security demands, stringent data protection standards, and extensive use in defence, immigration and border control. At the same time, Asia-Pacific (APAC) is projected to witness the fastest growth over the forecast period, backed by rising disposable incomes, rapid digitalization, growth of fintech, and increasing adoption across consumer, government, and commercial sectors.
• The market structure remains fragmented, with a variety of global and regional vendors — from established players to startups — operating at different scales. This fragmentation, combined with diverse biometric technologies and deployment models, creates significant opportunities for niche innovators and new entrants, especially in emerging regions and sectors undergoing digital transformation.
• Despite strong growth prospects, high technology cost remains a challenge. Advanced sensors — especially iris or retina scanners — and sophisticated biometric hardware can be expensive to deploy, which may limit adoption among smaller enterprises or in cost-sensitive markets. Nevertheless, as adoption scales up and more efficient hardware/software solutions emerge, costs are expected to decline over time, enabling broader penetration.
• The rise of AI and ML technologies is a major enabler for the market. With increasing smartphone penetration and integrated facial recognition capabilities, biometric software developers have opportunities to deliver accurate, scalable, and cost-effective solutions — expanding use cases beyond traditional security to digital identity, contactless payments, and access control across industries.
• Among biometric technologies, besides face and iris recognition, the market also includes contactless biometric cards, palm-vein recognition, voice recognition, and contactless fingerprint recognition, offering options to suit various security, convenience, and cost requirements.
• As industries across defense, healthcare, transport, consumer electronics, and BFSI continue digitizing, demand for contactless biometric solutions is poised to grow across use cases: criminal identification & forensics, onboarding & KYC, access control, and secure payments, among others.