If you bought even one bar of bath soap last year, you contributed to the wellness industry, and a new report released Tuesday by the Global Wellness Institute showed that you helped it reach a record high. of 6.32 trillion dollars in the year 2023.
This is larger than the pharmaceutical and sports categories.
The overall wellness industry grew 25% from 2019 to 2023. The report predicts that by the end of 2024, it will reach another all-time high of $6.8 trillion.
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The wellness market is so big because it includes the massive personal care and beauty industries, which alone are worth $1.21 trillion. So every trip to the hair salon counts as “wellness” — the study's authors say that personal care and beauty products are marketed as “self-care” to consumers.
Other major industries also fall under wellness, such as the $1.09 trillion weight loss, health and nutrition category and the $1.06 trillion fitness market. Wellness real estate includes everything from gyms to office buildings designed with occupant health in mind—think air filter systems in an office space. It is a $438.2 billion industry and is also part of the broader wellness category.
The study attributes the record sales to consumers emphasizing health — and spending accordingly — after the pandemic. The global wellness industry took a dive during the pandemic, falling from $5 trillion in 2019 to $4.6 trillion in 2020.
Since then, however, it has continued to creep higher, reaching $5.8 trillion in 2022 before reaching $6.32 trillion in 2023.
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The report showed that people in North America put the most money behind health, with each person spending about $5,768 a year. For context, the next largest market is Europe, where residents spend an average of $1,794 per person.
Another report published last month by SNS Insider narrowed down the global corporate wellness market, which includes mental and physical wellness programs for employees. The report estimated that the market size would almost double from $64.11 billion in 2023 to around $123.35 billion by 2032.