January 2024Consumer Packaged Goods PracticeThe trends defining the $1.8 trillion global wellness market in 2024Our latest Future of Wellness survey finds that consumers are taking greater control over their health—and expect companies to provide effective, science-backed solutions.This article is a collaborative effort by Shaun Callaghan, Hayley Doner, Jonathan Medalsy, Anna Pione, and Warren Teichner, representing views from McKinsey’s Consumer Packaged Goods and Private Equity & Principal Investors Practices.From cold plunges to collagen to celery juice, the $1.8 trillion global consumer wellness market is no stranger to fads, which can sometimes surface with limited clinical research or credibility. Today, consumers are no longer simply trying out these wellness trends and hoping for the best, but rather asking, “What does the science say?”McKinsey’s latest Future of Wellness research—which surveyed more than 5,000 consumers across China, the United Kingdom, and the United States—examines the trends shaping the consumer wellness landscape. In this article, we pair these findings with a look at seven wellness subsets—including women’s health, weight management, and in-person fitness—that our research suggests are especially ripe areas for innovation and investment activity.The science- and data-backed future of wellnessIn the United States alone, we estimate that the wellness market has reached $480 billion, growing at 5 to 10 percent per year. Eighty-two percent of US consumers now consider wellness a top or important priority in their everyday lives, which is similar to what consumers in the United Kingdom and China report (73 percent and 87 percent, respectively).This is especially true among Gen Z and millennial consumers, who are now purchasing more wellness products and services than older generations, across the same dimensions we outlined in our previous research: health, sleep, nutrition, fitness, appearance, and mindfulness (Exhibit 1).1Across the globe, responses to our survey questions revealed a common theme about consumer expectations: consumers want effective, data-driven, science-backed health and wellness solutions (Exhibit 2).Five trends shaping the consumer health and wellness space in 2024Fifty-eight percent of US respondents to our survey said they are prioritizing wellness more now than they did a year ago. The following five trends encompass their newly emerging priorities, as well as those that are consistent with our earlier research.Trend one: Health at homeThe COVID-19 pandemic made at-home testing kits a household item. As the pandemic has moved into its endemic phase, consumers are expressing greater interest in other kinds of at-home kits: 26 percent of US consumers are interested in testing for vitamin and mineral deficiencies at 1 “Still feeling good: The US wellness market continues to boom,” McKinsey, September...
