The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) recently released research defining and analyzing the size of the global mental wellness economy. This represents the first study to define mental wellness as opposed to mental health while clarifying the key concepts and pathways. Mental wellness is defined by GWI as “an internal resource that helps us think, feel, connect, and function. It is an active process that helps us to build resilience, grow, and flourish.”
Four sub-markets were identified in the report that comprise the $121 billion global mental wellness market:
Senses, Spaces, and Sleep ($49.5 billion): The largest mental wellness sector, this category spans products, services, and design that target our senses and the mind-body connection, with the growing understanding that environmental stimuli have a major impact on our mood, stress levels, and sleep.
Brain-Boosting Nutraceuticals and Botanicals ($34.8 billion): Ingestible products with the specific goal of improving mental health and well-being, including natural supplements, herbals and botanicals, and functional foods and beverages, are proliferating, claiming to boost brain health, sleep, memory, and energy.
Self-Improvement ($33.6 billion): This segment spans a wide range of activities typically associated with self-help and personal development, including self-help books, media, video, apps, and online platforms; self-help gurus and influencers; personal and life coaches; organizations delivering classes, workshops, and retreats; self-help organizations and mutual support groups; cognitive enhancement and brain training products/services; and new, creative organizations, apps, and online platforms combatting loneliness and isolation.
Meditation and mindfulness ($2.9 billion): While meditation and mindfulness are perhaps the approaches most firmly associated with “mental wellness,” it’s the smallest (if an extremely fast-growing) market, because while millions of people worldwide practice meditation, only a small fraction spend money on it.
“Stress, loneliness, and burnout were exploding pre-pandemic, and a stronger focus on mental wellness has been a cultural mega-shift these last few years: People awakening to the importance of integrative solutions including meditation, sleep and brain health, with businesses rushing in to offer all kinds of solutions. But mental wellness as a concept, and what constitutes it as an industry, has remained incredibly fuzzy,” said Ophelia Yeung, GWI senior research fellow. “Clarifying what it is, and delineating its business segments, is overdue. And while most mental wellness strategies are free—like spending time in nature or with friends—people increasingly seek non-clinical help in coping with everyday mental challenges, and that’s where the mental wellness industry comes in.”
Katherine Johnston, GWI senior research fellow, added: “There is urgency to this research: Study after study shows how the human suffering and economic dislocations caused by the pandemic have ravaged our mental well-being. We’re excited to release this study because people are desperate for alternative strategies to cope, and we hope it clarifies how important it is to promote mental wellness—and how businesses, governments and individuals can all play different roles in addressing a growing crisis.”
Mental health and mental wellness tech start-ups have also become a major target for investors. According to GWI, investment levels reached $750 million in 2019, a fivefold increase over 2014, while funding has topped $1 billion in the first half of 2020.
