Research just released by the Global Wellness Institute (GWI) shows that for every US$800 (€806, £694) annual increase in people’s wellness expenditures, happiness levels rise by 7 per cent and life expectancy goes up by 1.26 years.
These figures are the topline stats of the GWI’s Defining Wellness Policy, an in-depth 40-plus page report which we cover on page 104. It makes the case for using wellness as a lens to reshape government policies that impact personal wellbeing to ensure being well and healthy is accessible to everyone – not just an elite few.
Public policies are important for spas because they increase consumer confidence in wellness – a sector that’s still largely unregulated. They also determine what governments spend money on – from training and education to research and infrastructure.
We believe wellness would be higher on policymakers’ agendas if they understand the fact that the key to economic success and productivity is a healthy, vibrant workforce.
This subject has been in the news recently, due to statements made in the UK by Andy Haldane, former chief economist at the Bank of England.
Speaking at The Health Foundation’s Real Challenge lecture, Haldane said the declining health of Britons is stalling the nation’s economic growth. “We’re in a situation for the first time, probably since the Industrial Revolution, where health and wellbeing are in retreat,” he said. “Having been an accelerator of wellbeing for the last 200 years, health is now serving as a brake on the rise of economic growth and the wellbeing of our citizens”.
Policymakers need to understand that if countries are to run effectively, they need healthy, fit, engaged citizens with mental and physical resilience and vitality and that everything that reinforces this – including our sector – is to be encouraged.
The GWI’s revelation about the positive impact of wellness spending is an encouraging start to proving the value of wellbeing. But with the world facing so many serious challenges, now’s the time to present even more evidence that the wellness sector is also already contributing to economic success and GDP so it can grab the attention of those in power.
