The $3.7 Trillion Wellness Economy: Implications for Dermatology

Gerard Bodeker

Professor, Dept. of Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, USA

& Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, UK

Research published in 2016 by the Global Wellness Economic Monitor found that in 2015 $3.72 trillion was spent worldwide on wellness. The study found that wellness accounts for 5.1 percent of global economic output, far outpacing global GDP growth, and is nearly half of all health expenditures.

Some components of this market are relevant to the practice of dermatology:

· $999 billion on beauty and anti-aging

· $647.8 billion on healthy eating, nutrition and weight loss

· $534.3 billion on preventative and personalized medicine

· $199 billion on complementary and alternative medicine

· $98.6 billion on spa treatments

· $51 billion on thermal/mineral springs facilities

The 2015 CMR Pharmaceutical R&D reported that global pharmaceutical sales reached $1 trillion in 2014. The forecast is for continued growth, with sales expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2018. This projection for pharmaceuticals in 2018 is less than half the value of the global wellness market in 2015.

While the global market for drugs to treat dermatological conditions has been valued by Visiongain at just over $24 billion for 2014, the wider market for dermatology within the global wellness economy would seem to offer substantially greater opportunity for contribution and revenues than the amount at which the global dermatology pharma market is valued.

The wellness economy has a strong focus on healthy and radiant skin, with prevention, mobility and nutrition as cornerstones of skin health – all areas where dermatologists can offer evidence-based contributions.