Wellness has become a top priority for younger consumers as burnout takes hold: survey

Wellness is big business—a $2 trillion business to be exact, according to the Global Wellness Institute. Now, a new survey by McKinsey that accounts for “six dimensions” of wellness—health, sleep, nutrition, fitness, appearance, and mindulfullness—reveals many ways wellness is changing.

The survey—which included responses from over 9,000 consumers across countries like China, the UK, Germany, and the US—found that younger consumers have become pretty devoted to wellness over the past year.

With the US wellness industry worth about $500 billion in annual spend alone, according to previous McKinsey research, 84% of US customers from the survey said that wellness was a top or important priority for them.

Among those, around 30% of Gen Z and millennials responded that wellness was a “a lot more” important to them compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, 23% of older generations felt the same.

But while both Gen Z and millennials seemed to care about wellness the most, there were some stark differences in what it means to them compared with baby boomers and Gen Xers.

For instance, when it came to wellness, areas such as sexual health, skincare, and hair care, Gen Z and millennials prioritized those over older consumers.

Likewise, while both older and younger shoppers spent almost the same across essential health categories such as oral care and personal hygiene, younger consumers also spent more when it came to items like health-tracking devices, massage tools, and IV drops. They were also generally more likely to experiment to test out new digital platforms.

As to why wellness plays such an important role in young peoples’ lives, McKinsey’s Future of Wellness survey speculates it could have to do with burnout, as younger generations reported higher levels of stress and worsening health as opposed to older people.

Another factor is awareness. Social media has made a lot of wellness products and services more accessible to Gen Z and millennials compared to older generations resulting in more purchases.

Still, while the wellness sector’s popularity among young people remains strong, certain gaps persist, primarily when it comes to mental, heart, gut, and cognitive health, where Gen Z reports feeling like their needs are unmet. In fact, 40% of Gen Zers reported feeling “almost always stressed” versus other generations.