The global mobile health market is expected to reach $49 billion by 2020, according to a study by Grand View Research.

In 2012, the global market for mobile health was valued at $1.95 billion and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 47.6 percent from 2014 to 2020.

North America, accounted for 33.5 percent of the total revenue in 2012, dominating the mobile health global market. As people pay more out of pocket for healthcare in North America, Grand View believes demand for lower cost mobile health tools will go up.

While North America dominated in 2012, Grand View predicts the Asia Pacific market, which includes Australia, India, China, and Japan, will be the fastest growing market, with an estimated CAGR of 49.1 percent from 2014 to 2020.

The report cites smartphone proliferation, the growth of 3G and 4G networks (which will increase demand for telemedicine), and the aging population as reasons for growth of the global mobile health market within the next six years.

Grand View Research also points out a key challenge to market growth will be users' concerns over the privacy of their personal information.

Grand View Research expects monitoring services to remain the dominant and fastest growing segment of the mobile health market. Monitoring services had $12.27 billion in revenue in 2012 and is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 49.7 percent from 2014 to 2020. In 2012, monitoring services accounted for about 63 percent of the overall market share.

Chronic disease management was the largest segment of the monitoring services market. Most of the demand for chronic disease management tools came from Europe and North America.