The global wellness economy reached a peak of US$6.8 trillion in 2024, according to research released today (19 November) by the Global Wellness Institute (GWI).

The release of the GWI’s 100+ page report, titled Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2025, is an annual highlight at the Global Wellness Summit (GWS), which is being held in Dubai, UAE.

The research, which provides in-depth data on the global wellness market, each of its 11 sectors and other market insights, predicts the economy will grow to nearly US$9.8 trillion in 2029.

The research was presented live, on-stage, by GWI senior researcher Katherine Johnston.

Trends fuelling the growth of the global wellness economy include an ageing population, increasing rates of chronic disease, mental unwellness and the market’s pivot to focus on prevention and longevity.

Johnston said: "As of 2024, we can say the entire wellness economy has recovered from the pandemic. We can now say we are truly in the post-pandemic era."

Global wellness economy headlines

This forecast shows the global wellness economy expanding by 7.6 per cent annually between 2024 and 2029 – outpacing projected global GDP growth of 4.5 per cent.

Year-on-year, between 2023 and 2024, the global wellness economy has grown by 7.9 per cent, doubling in size since 2013.

Wellness now represents 6.12 per cent of global GDP as of 2024. The GWI predicts wellness will make up 7.1 per cent of the world’s economy by 2029.

Wellness (worth US$6.8 trillion) is now a larger market than other global industries, including sports (US$2.7 trillion), tourism (US$5 trillion) and it’s almost four times larger than the pharmaceutical industry (US$1.8 trillion).

The GWI also says that when compared to all global health expenditures (both consumer and governmental spending) worth US$11.2 trillion, the global wellness economy is 60 per cent as large.

The report says that while every regional wellness market has experienced major growth over the last five years, the biggest annual gains can be seen in North America (up 7.9 per cent), the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (up 7.2 per cent) and Europe (up 6.3 per cent).

The report outlines how spending on wellness is dramatically higher in North America (US$6,029) and Europe (US$1,876) than elsewhere – including Latin America-Caribbean (US$607), Asia (US$471) and MENA (US$339).

New valuations for 11 sectors

The report also provides new market sizes, recent growth rates and projections through to 2029 for all 11 wellness sectors all while exploring the big trends that will impact each segment in the future.

The new 2024 valuation figures are as follows (with average annual year-on-year growth percentages between 2019-2024):

• Personal Care and Beauty – US$1.35 trillion (+4.8 per cent on 2023).

• Healthy Eating, Nutrition and Weight Loss – US$1.15 trillion (+4.7 per cent on 2023).

• Physical Activity – US$1.14 trillion (+4.6 per cent on 2023).

• Wellness Tourism – US$894 billion (+6.4 per cent on 2023).

• Public Health, Prevention and Personalised Medicine – US$767 billion (+8.6 per cent on 2023).

• Traditional and Complementary Medicine – US$606 billion (+4.6 per cent on 2023).

• Wellness Real Estate – US$548 billion (+19.5 per cent on 2023).

• Mental Wellness – US$268 billion (+12.4 per cent on 2023).

• Spas – US$157 billion (+6.2 per cent on 2023).

• Thermal / Mineral Springs – US$72 billion (+1.7 per cent on 2023).

• Workplace Wellness – US$53 billion (+0.7 per cent on 2023).

Top performers

Wellness real estate has been the fastest-growing market over the last five years (19.5 per cent annually). The GWI believes this is because the COVID pandemic created a new awareness about the impact external environments have on our physical and mental health.

Mental wellness has also been growing by 12.4 per cent annually. The US has the mental wellness market, worth US$125 billion, followed by China’s, which is worth US$16 billion. Segments that show significant growth over the past years include cannabis products, meditation and mindfulness and sleep.

Tourism-based wellness sectors, which were hit hardest by the pandemic, have seen the largest year-on-year growth (in addition to wellness real estate). Between 2023 and 2024 the spa sector grew by 14.6 per cent, wellness tourism grew 13.8 per cent and the thermal/mineral springs sector is up by 11.1 per cent.

Workplace wellness is the sector that has not achieved significant growth. The GWI says this is due to employers moving away from workplace wellness programming and an increase in remote or “gig” work that leaves workers without access to these benefits.

Growth predictions

Sectors due to see significant annual growth:

Wellness real estate – 15.2 per cent

Traditional and complementary medicine – 10.8 per cent

Mental wellness – 10.1 per cent

Wellness tourism – 9.1 per cent

Thermal/ mineral springs – 10 per cent

Public health, prevention and personalised medicine – 9.3 per cent

By 2029, six wellness sectors will exceed US$1 trillion in market size: personal care and beauty; healthy eating, nutrition and weight loss; physical activity; wellness tourism; wellness real estate; and traditional and complementary medicine.

Bonus content

Johnston gave delegates some exclusive bonus insights into how longevity fits into the wellness market landscape, based on the GWI's long-term research into the industry.

"Even though it may feel like longevity is the hottest buzzword, it's not a new concept," said Johnston. "We've already had a longevity revolution in history – lifespan has doubled due to public health initiatives and healthier food being made available.

Johnston added that longevity won't be a sector on its own in future editions of the Global Wellness Economy Monitor because it's baked into each existing sector.

She highlighted longevity services that contribute to the economy exist within an overlap between the wellness economy, health and medical economy and biotech sector, though these services and products' worth is not yet quantifiable.

"Any future gains in longevity will require advances in medical and wellness markets," said Johnston. "The potential impacts are huge and there's plenty of money to be made too. We'll need private sectors and governments to work together to enable everyone to have access to these advances."

Stay tuned for the next issue of Spa Business where we’ll dig into the Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2025 in even more detail – sign up here to receive your copy.

The Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2025 was prepared by Katherine Johnston, Ophelia Yeung, Joanne Hopkins and Tonia Callender.