The wellness and sports industries are routinely described as "trillion-dollar" without much rigour. The number is real, but it hides enormous variation between sub-sectors — and most of the public conversation conflates supplements, gym memberships, athleisure and spa tourism into one undifferentiated blob. This piece breaks the figures apart using the most recent industry research, and points to where the genuine momentum is.
The headline figures
According to the Global Wellness Institute's 2024 Monitor, the global wellness economy reached USD 6.3 trillion in 2023 and is projected to grow to roughly USD 9 trillion by 2028 — a compound annual growth rate of about 7.3%, well above global GDP growth.
The sports economy is smaller but accelerating. PwC's 2024 Sports Outlook puts global sports revenue at around USD 260 billion in 2024, with media rights and sponsorship driving most of the growth.
What's actually inside the wellness number
The GWI breaks the 6.3T figure into eleven sectors. The four largest in 2023 dominate the headline — but the most interesting growth sits underneath them.
The fastest-growing segment is mental wellness (apps, therapy, retreats), expanding at roughly 12% per year as the post-pandemic mental health gap converts into spending.
Where the supply side is moving
On the practitioner side, demand is shifting from one-off classes to longer engagements — coaching packages, programmes, retreats. Codex sees this in its own intake data: clients booking 12-session coaching packs outnumber single-session bookings by roughly 3 to 1 once a relationship is established, and holistic sleep and mindfulness programmes lead the long-form category.
In CPG, the breakout categories are functional beverages, longevity supplements (NAD+, collagen, creatine for non-athletic populations) and women's health. See our companion piece on trending wellness CPGs in 2026.
The under-discussed sub-sectors
- Workplace wellness — USD 51B and quietly growing as employers fold mental health benefits, sleep and nutrition coaching into core comp
- Wellness real estate — USD 438B, dominated by residential developments built around air, light, water and movement standards
- Public health, prevention & personalised medicine — USD 611B, a category that barely existed a decade ago
The trillion-dollar headline is correct but lazy. Wellness is no longer a vertical — it's a horizontal layer across food, real estate, software, healthcare and entertainment.
What this means if you build, work or buy in the industry
Practitioners and brands that pick a defensible niche inside one of these layers, and document their work properly, will outperform generalists by a wide margin.
If you're a coach or studio building a presence here, start with a proper profile and packaged offerings rather than one-off classes — the data is unambiguous about where lifetime value comes from.
Sources
- Global Wellness Institute — Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2024 — globalwellnessinstitute.org
- PwC — Global Sports Outlook 2024 — pwc.com
- McKinsey Health Institute — Future of Wellness 2024 — mckinsey.com