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What is the global market size for the health and wellness market?
Hello! Thanks for your question about the global size of the health and wellness market.
The short version is that the global health and wellness market is estimated to be worth $3.7 trillion in market size.
Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
GLOBAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS MARKET REPORT
The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) and the leading global research and educational information provider for the global wellness industry. GWI published its latest brief on the global wellness market this January 2017.
For its sources, GWI reports that it gathered key data from its internal research as well as global surveys and consultation from authoritative sources including World Bank, World Health Organization, Euromonitor, International Monetary Fund, World Travel & Tourism Council, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and other industry-specific resources. You may see their research scope and methodology on page iv of the report.
The report below also includes segments that overlap with the Health industry such organic food (Healthy Eating, Nutrition and Weight Loss), gyms and spas (Fitness & Mind-Body), and supplements and vitamins (Complementary and Alternative Medicine). I considered therefore it as an industry brief that covers the whole health and wellness industry especially as I did not find other reports that covered the Health industry exclusively, only reports about Health products, Healthcare insurance, etc. Please read on below to see the details of the report.
According to Global Wellness Institute's research, the global wellness economy is worth $3.7 trillion in market size in 2015. GWI segments the wellness economy into 10 sectors. These are:
• Wellness Tourism - $536 Billion
Wellness Tourism is defined by travel for the purpose of maintaining or improving one's personal well-being. Wellness tourists took 691 million wellness trips in 2015 alone. GWI divides the Wellness Tourism industry into the following segments:
- In-country transport: $117.8 billion
- Lodging: $115 billion (destination spas, health resorts, retreats, etc.)
- Food and Beverage: $91.4 billion (Spa cuisine, healthy cuisine, etc.)
- Shopping: $86.6 billion (Fitness wear, vitamins, healthy foods)
- Activities and Excursions: $82,2 bullion (Fitness, meditation, life coaching, etc.)
- Other services: $70.4 billion (telecom, travel agencies, insurance, etc.)
• Spa Industry - $99 Billion
GWI reports that in 2015 there were 121,595 spas in operation across the world. These spas generated $77.6 billion in revenues and employed over 2.1 million workers. GWI gives the further breakdown of the global spa industry into the following segments:
- Spa capital investments: $20 billion
- Spa facilities: $78 billion
- Spa education: $0.9 billion
- Spa consulting: $0.1 billion
- Spa media associations and events: $0.2 billion
• Wellness Lifestyle Real Estate - $119 Billion
The Wellness Lifestyle Real Estate market represents the size of the global commercial real estate transactions that integrate wellness elements in their amenities, services, design, construction, and programming. GWI provides the following regional breakdown for the industry:
- North America: $48 billion
- Europe: $29 billion
- Asia-Pacific: $41 billion
- Latin America: $0.4 billion
- Sub-Saharan Africa: $0.1 billion
- Middle East-North Africa: $0.5 billion
• Thermal / Mineral Springs - $51 Billion
GWI estimates that there are 27,507 thermal/mineral springs facilities in 109 countries across the world. These facilities generated $51 billion in revenues in 2015. GWI reports the following breakdown for the thermal / mineral springs industry:
- (37.1%) Thermal / Mineral springs with no spa services: $18.9 billion generated by 20,335 establishments
- (62.9%) Thermal / Mineral springs with spa services: $32.1 billion generated by 7,172 establishments
• Workplace Wellness - $43 Billion
The Workplace Wellness industry includes employer spending on education and incentive to address employee health risk factors and behaviors. GWI provides the following regional breakdown for the global workplace wellness industry:
- North America: $16.2 billion spend, 52% of workers
- Europe: $16.1 billion spend, 24% of workers
- Asia Pacific: $8.4 billion spend, 5% of workers
- Latin America: $1.2 billion spend, 5% of workers
- Sub-Saharan Africa: $0.3 billion spend, 1% of workers
- Middle East-North Africa: $1.1 billion spend, 7% of workers
For the 5 other sectors, GWI does not provide additional data points and explains that it aggregated secondary industry data from several sources to estimate the following market sizes:
• Beauty & Anti-Aging - $999 Billion
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine - $199 Billion
• Preventive & Personalized Medicine and Public Health - $534 Billion
• Healthy Eating, Nutrition, and Weight Loss - $648 Billion
• Fitness & Mind-Body $542 Billion
MARKET INSIGHTS AND ANALYSIS
According to Well To Do, based on GWI's research the fastest growing markets are Preventive & Personalized Medicine and Public Health, Fitness & Mind-Body, Wellness Lifestyle Real Estate, Wellness Tourism, and Healthy Eating, Nutrition and Weight Loss.
These sectors are expected to continue to grow thanks to the rise of the global middle class, an aging world population, and consumers seeking meaningful experiences based on the values of purpose, authenticity and nature.
These factors are confirmed by research from other sources. Pew Research reported in 2016 that according to its findings, the global middle class numbered 3 billion people. $33 trillion were spent by the global middle class in 2015. By 2021, the global middle class will comprise the largest portion of the world population.
Last year, Euromonitor Blog reported that in 2015 and 2016 products perceived as all natural were the ones that resonated the most with consumers. Also, brands and retailers have competed to meet growing consumer preferences for products such as recyclable, organic, fair trade and sustainably produced.
Euromonitor Blog adds that interest in natural products will only increase as consumers age and become more aware of these products' benefits to the environment and to one's health and wellness.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, the global health and wellness market is estimated to be worth $3.7 trillion in market size. The fastest growing sectors in this industry are Preventive & Personalized Medicine and Public Health, Fitness & Mind-Body, Wellness Lifestyle Real Estate, Wellness Tourism, and Healthy Eating, Nutrition and Weight Loss. These sectors will only continue to grow and drive the global health & wellness industry thanks to a rising global middle class and consumer preference for natural products and value-based experiences.
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