80. Ophelia Yeung and Katherine Johnston — Surprising New Numbers from the Global Wellness Economy

How has the global wellness economy fared since the massive economic shocks of the pandemic? Today we will talk to Global Wellness Institute’s Senior Research Fellows, Ophelia Yeung and Katherine Johnston, to find out why they say the global wellness economy has made one powerful recovery!

This podcast is about wellness, with the business of wellness front & center. So we turn to the rigorous research done by the nonprofit Global Wellness Institute (GWI)—the world’s only authoritative, comprehensive source of wellness market data—for answers that are both enlightening and encouraging. Go with us on a deeper dive behind numbers showing that the wellness economy has surged post-pandemic—with its total value growing from $4.4 trillion to $5.6 trillion—growing 12% annually since 2020 and reaching a 14% higher value than the previous record year of 2019.

With consumers, the medical world, and governments now placing a much bigger value on prevention and wellness, find out how GWI can predict that the wellness market will nearly double in size from 2020 to 2027.

To set the stage, early on the GWI research team set the parameter that to be part of the wellness economy, each sector would only include “industries that enable consumers to incorporate wellness activities and lifestyles into their daily lives”… everything from wellness tourism to mental wellness; from beauty & personal care to wellness real estate.

You’ll also hear the multi-lingual public and private resources the GWI researchers turn to for their detail-driven research including places such as: International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Health Organization (WHO), World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Statista, Eurostat, U.S. National Institutes of Health, global travel promotion and booking websites, along with numerous industry-specific organizations, databases, publications, and media sources and dozens of government ministries and statistical agencies in countries around the world.

This year’s report shows that all regions have recovered from the pandemic, but North America, Europe, and Middle East-North Africa have shown the strongest resilience and growth from 2019-2022. We’ll explore the encouraging finding that seven of the eleven wellness sectors have fully recovered from the pandemic, with a 2022 market size that exceeds their 2019 level. We’ll talk about which sectors have fared the best and which are still recovering and why they feel that recovery will happen rather quickly.

In a world where challenges often seem insurmountable, the wellness industry offers a beacon of hope. It underscores the idea that with the right tools, resources, and mindset, we can overcome hurdles and lead healthier, more fulfilling lives. Indeed, wellness is not just a personal pursuit. It’s a collective goal, one that has the potential to shape the future of communities and nations.

Let’s join Katherine & Ophelia to learn why Fortune 500 companies like Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, General Mills and even the World Bank have turned to GWI’s numbers and how investors, developers and wellness business owners—and even just the wellness curious— can benefit from numbers with this level of research, detail, rigor and definition behind them.

To learn more, visit the Global Wellness Institute’s site at GlobalWellnessInstitute.org.

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