An article management system is provided with an article placement position storage section which stores article identification information of a plurality of articles and article position information showing a section on which the plurality of articles is placed in association with each other, an object detection section which measures a position of an object positioned inside the section or outside the section to output object position information, and an article specification section which compares object position information detected by the object position detection section and the article position information with each other and, when the object position information is included in section where the article is placed, shown by the article position information, specifies the article identification information stored in association with the article position information.