Wellness market value worldwide 2017 to 2029

Size of the wellness market worldwide from 2017 to 2024, with a forecast to 2029

The wellness market is one of the largest and most resilient consumer markets in the world. Measured by the Global Wellness Institute, its value climbed from about $4.5 trillion in 2017 to a record $6.8 trillion in 2024, the latest year with complete data. Over that period the market grew through economic ups and downs, paused only briefly during the pandemic, and is now forecast to keep expanding to nearly $9.8 trillion by the end of the decade.

This report focuses specifically on the value of the market over time: how much it was worth each year, how far it fell and how fast it bounced back during the pandemic, what the total is made of, and where it is heading. For the wider picture, including the regional split, leading countries and the fastest-growing segments, see our full wellness industry statistics overview.

The value of the wellness market over time

The chart below tracks the annual value of the global wellness market from 2017 through 2024, with the Global Wellness Institute forecast for 2029. The overall shape is a steady climb, broken only by the pandemic year of 2020.

A steady climb: from $4.5 trillion in 2017 to $6.8 trillion in 2024, with GWI projecting nearly $9.8 trillion by 2029.

The market was worth about $4.5 trillion in 2017 and reached $5.0 trillion in 2019 before the pandemic. After a dip in 2020 it climbed again to $5.4 trillion in 2021, $5.8 trillion in 2022, $6.3 trillion in 2023 and $6.8 trillion in 2024. That is an increase of roughly 51 percent over the seven years from 2017, a pace of growth well ahead of the wider world economy over the same period.

How the market fell and bounced back

The one break in the upward trend came in 2020. With gyms, spas, salons and travel largely shut down, wellness spending fell for the first time in years. The chart shows the annual change in market value, making the dip and the sharp rebound that followed easy to see.

Down then up: the market fell about 8 percent in 2020 but rebounded roughly 17 percent in 2021 and has grown every year since.

In 2020 the market contracted by about 8 percent, slipping from $5.0 trillion to $4.6 trillion. The recovery was fast: value jumped roughly 17 percent in 2021 as restrictions lifted and demand returned, then settled into a steady run of 7 to 9 percent annual growth through 2024. By 2021 the market had already surpassed its 2019 level, and it has set a new record every year since. The speed of that rebound is one reason analysts describe wellness spending as unusually durable.

What is powering the rise in value

The steady climb in market value rests on a few long-running forces. Populations are ageing across most of the developed world, and chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity are becoming more common, pushing both individuals and governments toward prevention rather than treatment alone. As people live longer, they also spend more on staying well through those extra years.

Technology has widened access and added value. Fitness and wellness apps, wearable trackers and telehealth have brought services to phones and homes, and the fitness technology market more than doubled to around $86 billion. Consumer attitudes have shifted too, with wellness now treated as an everyday priority rather than an occasional treat. Not every part moves in step: the weight loss services market dipped slightly in 2024 as demand shifted toward new GLP-1 medications. The chart shows which sectors have been adding value fastest.

Growth engines: wellness real estate and mental wellness have expanded fastest, each adding value at double-digit annual rates since 2019.

Wellness real estate, meaning homes and communities built with health features, has grown about 19.5 percent a year, while mental wellness has grown about 12.4 percent. Public health and personalized medicine, wellness tourism and spas have also outpaced the overall market. These fast movers are steadily reshaping where the value sits, even though the largest consumer sectors still make up most of the total.

What the wellness market value is made of

The $6.8 trillion total is spread across eleven sectors, from beauty and fitness to wellness tourism and healthy real estate. The chart ranks them by their 2024 value.

Concentrated at the top: personal care and beauty, healthy eating, and physical activity together account for more than half of the market value.

Personal care and beauty is the largest single sector at about $1.35 trillion in 2024, followed by healthy eating, nutrition and weight loss at $1.15 trillion and physical activity at $1.14 trillion. Those three alone make up more than half of the market value. Wellness tourism ($894 billion) and public health, prevention and personalized medicine ($676 billion) come next, with the remaining value spread across traditional medicine, wellness real estate, mental wellness, spas, springs and workplace wellness. Because activities overlap, the sectors are not meant to add up exactly to the headline figure. For scale, the whole market is nearly four times the size of the global pharmaceutical industry, a comparison explored in our report on biotechnology in pharma worldwide.

Where the value sits

The market value is heavily concentrated in three regions. North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe together hold close to 90 percent of the global total, as the chart shows.

North America out front: the region holds about $2.3 trillion of the total value, ahead of Asia-Pacific and Europe.

North America is the largest regional market at about $2.3 trillion, having overtaken Asia-Pacific in recent years. Asia-Pacific holds roughly $2.0 trillion and Europe $1.7 trillion, with the remaining value spread across Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. For the full country-level ranking and per capita spending behind these regional totals, see our wellness industry statistics overview.

How the value compares

To put $6.8 trillion in perspective, it helps to line the wellness market up against other global industries. On the Global Wellness Institute measure, wellness is now bigger than several of the world best-known mega-markets.

A mega-market: at $6.8 trillion, wellness tops IT, the green economy, tourism and sports, and dwarfs pharmaceuticals.

Wellness is larger than the global IT industry ($5.3 trillion), the green economy ($5.1 trillion), tourism ($5.0 trillion) and sports ($2.7 trillion), and it is nearly four times the size of the global pharmaceutical industry at about $1.8 trillion. Few consumer markets of this size are still growing as quickly, which is what makes the wellness value trend stand out.

The market value relative to the world economy

Because the wellness market has grown faster than global output, its value now claims a rising share of the world economy. The chart shows wellness as a percentage of global GDP.

A bigger slice: wellness rose from about 5.75 percent of global GDP in 2019 to 6.1 percent in 2024, and is forecast to reach 7.1 percent by 2029.

Wellness accounted for about 5.75 percent of global GDP in 2019 and roughly 6.1 percent in 2024, and the Global Wellness Institute expects the share to reach about 7.1 percent by 2029. The steady rise reflects consumers choosing to spend a growing part of their income on health and self-care, a habit that held firm through the pandemic and through more recent bouts of inflation. For the wider economic backdrop, see our overview of the global economy.

Where the market value is heading

The Global Wellness Institute expects the market to keep setting records. It projects the wellness market will grow about 7.6 percent a year and approach $9.8 trillion by 2029, faster than the roughly 4.5 percent growth forecast for the world economy. If that holds, the market will have more than doubled between 2017 and 2029.

Growth is expected to be broad, with every sector above its pre-pandemic level and six sectors individually passing $1 trillion in value by 2029. The strongest momentum is forecast in wellness real estate, mental wellness and personalized medicine, while the biggest untapped opportunities lie in fast-growing economies across Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. For the full breakdown of sectors, regions and leading countries behind these numbers, see our wellness industry statistics overview.

Wellness market value in numbers

A few figures capture the trend. The market was worth $4.5 trillion in 2017 and $6.8 trillion in 2024, a rise of about 51 percent, and it is forecast to reach nearly $9.8 trillion by 2029.

Taken together, these numbers show a market that has grown steadily for years, shrugged off a major shock, and is expected to keep expanding faster than the economy around it.

Frequently Asked Questions