By Our Staff Writer
The US leads the global wellness economy with a $2.1 trillion market size, followed by China ($950 billion), Germany ($281 billion), Japan ($262 billion) and the UK ($261 billion), a new report revealed.
These five countries together represent 58 percent of the total wellness economy, according to the latest annual “Country Rankings” report by Global Wellness Institute (GWI). The report, released recently, identifies the countries and regions with the fastest growth rates, and reveals the amount of money spent annually on wellness in each nation. It is packed with data on the wellness markets of 145 countries.
Among the largest wellness markets, the standout five-year growth leaders are the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Mexico, Poland, the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, the US and Australia. For smaller markets, the growth stars include Croatia, Cuba, Romania, Costa Rica and Kazakhstan.
According to the study, each of the top 25 largest markets have surpassed their pre-pandemic (2019) sizes, most by sizable margins, despite economic challenges for many of the nations.
“One striking finding this year is the remarkable growth of the Middle East wellness economy over the last five years,” media reports quoted Katherine Johnston, GWI senior research fellow, as saying. “This growth has mainly been driven by an explosive wellness market in the UAE and Saudi Arabia – the region’s largest markets and also the fastest-growing countries in the world since 2019, Johnston added.
According to the GWI senior research fellow, rapid growth in wellness tourism is bringing new wellness spending into the region by visitors, while consumers, businesses and governments are all spending more on everything from wellness real estate to public health to healthy eating.
