The Global Wellness Economy: Country Rankings
Data for 2019-2023
A companion to GWI’s 2024 Global Wellness Economy Monitor, this report is the only place to find detailed regional and country-level data on the size of the wellness industry. It ranks 140 countries by the size of their wellness economies, compares wellness to the size of each country’s overall economy, examines per capita spending on wellness at the country level, and explores post-pandemic recovery of the wellness market across different countries. The report also provides a summary analysis and data profile for the wellness economy across six global regions. For more information, see GWI’s Wellness Economy Data Series.
Selected Key Findings
- The five largest wellness markets in 2023 are: the United States ($2.0 trillion), China ($870 billion), Germany ($310 billion), Japan ($255 billion), and the United Kingdom ($230 billion).
- The top ten largest wellness markets represent 70% of the global wellness economy, while the top 25 represent 86%. The United States alone accounted for 32% of the entire global wellness economy in 2023.
- The 25 largest wellness markets have mostly recovered from the pandemic and have resumed a robust growth trajectory. When we compare the size of the national wellness economies in 2023 versus 2019, all but three of the top 25 markets (Japan, Thailand, Brazil) have surpassed their pre-pandemic size when their markets are measured in U.S. dollar terms, and all of the top 25 markets have fully recovered when measured in their local currencies.
- Large wellness markets with especially strong growth and recovery since pre-pandemic include Mexico, India, the United States, Poland, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia. In 2023, the wellness economies of all nine countries surpassed their 2019 size by 130% or more.
- Four wellness sectors are responsible for much of the wellness economy growth in the largest and fastest-growing markets: public health, prevention, & personalized medicine; wellness real estate; healthy eating, nutrition, & weight loss; and personal care & beauty.
- Globally, per capita spending on wellness ($788) is slightly higher than the average consumer out-of-pocket spending on health goods/medical services ($746). At the regional level, per capita spending on wellness is higher than consumer out-of-pocket spending on healthcare across every region except North America.
- Globally, per capita spending on wellness grew by 5.9% annually from 2019-2023, outpacing the growth of consumer out-of-pocket spending on healthcare (4.1% annually). Wellness has also outpaced the growth rates for many other spending categories, including hotels/restaurants (3.8% annually from 2019-2023), clothing/shoes (1.4%), and education (1.6%) – both at the global level and across every region.
