Social Media Is About to Have Its Big “Tobacco” Moment And it will go beyond regulating teens By Thierry Malleret, economist Earlier this month, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that “social media has become a failed state,” echoing the rising concerns of many policymakers and experts about the dangers it poses. The push to ban some digital platforms to users under a certain age is gaining traction, most notably in Europe…
Countries With the Fastest and Slowest Growing Wellness Markets GWI’s new “Country Rankings” report is packed with data on the wellness markets of 145 countries. It reveals which nations are the five-year growth leaders, and which wellness markets are experiencing the slowest growth. The Middle East is a big story: The UAE (14.3% annual growth) and Saudi Arabia (12.2%) rank first and second among all countries…
Snapshots of EVERY wellness sector: the trends driving each market When GWI released the in-depth Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2025 last month, revealing that the wellness economy had reached a new peak of $6.8 trillion, it included a first: a chapter that––succinctly but with detail––provides some nuance and “color” to all the in-depth data in the report. For each of the 11 wellness markets––whether…
Weight loss drugs like Ozempic are lowering the US obesity rate–Gallup News A new Gallup poll indicates that the rate of obesity among US adults has declined over the past three years as GLP-1 use by adults rose sharply from 6% in early 2024 to 12% today. Obesity fell from 40% of the population in 2022 to 37% in 2025 (the equivalent of 7.6 million…
A large observational study (2025) from Australia’s Monash University, spanning a decade and involving over 10,000 people over 70, found that people who listened to music most days slashed their risk of developing dementia by 39% compared with those who did not. The regular music-listeners also had a decreased risk of experiencing general cognitive decline and performed consistently better on memory tasks and cognitive function…
New GWI Report Shows UAE’s Wellness Economy Has Surged to $41 Billion Last week, at the sold-out Global Wellness Summit in Dubai, the GWI released a new Geography of Wellness report on the UAE, revealing its wellness market grew an eye-opening 14.3% annually between 2019 and 2024, making the country the wellness growth leader in the Middle East-North Africa. Standout markets for growth: the UAE’s…
