Fitness places and fitness equipment that can be seen everywhere, "check-in" sports software that floods the Internet, popular massage therapy and yoga courses, a wide range of low-sugar and low-calorie healthy foods... With the improvement of consumer health management concepts and the improvement of residents' income levels, healthy consumption is becoming a highlight of the growth of my country's consumer market.
In recent years, my country has successively formulated and implemented a series of policies to promote the development of healthy consumption and the health industry, which has significantly improved the health literacy level of residents and promoted the rapid development of the healthy consumption market. Recently, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Special Action Plan to Boost Consumption", which mentioned "Promoting special actions for healthy consumption", which brought new policy benefits to the healthy consumption market.
Using the policy, the potential of the health consumer market is continuing to be released, and consumers' demand for health services is becoming increasingly strong. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2024, the per capita health care consumption expenditure of my country's residents was 2,547 yuan, accounting for 9.0% of per capita consumption expenditure.
At present, my country's health consumption field has shown a series of new characteristics and trends, one of which is the continuous expansion of consumer groups. In addition to the traditional main elderly group of health consumption, more and more young people are starting to "active management" model and becoming a new force in health care consumption. Moreover, unlike the traditional health concepts of the older generation, young people are no longer satisfied with the simple "sow wolfberry in a thermos cup", but pay more attention to scientific health management and personalized consumption experience. For example, in terms of health management, more young people tend to receive regular physical examination services and are willing to take the initiative to purchase health insurance. In terms of diet, young consumers increasingly attach importance to the nutritional value and production process of food. They must first look at the ingredients list before choosing snacks.
Digitalization trends also provide support for healthy consumption. Nowadays, the popularity of intelligent health testing equipment has made personal health management easier and more efficient. Relevant data shows that in 2024, the shipment volume of China's wrist wear equipment market reached 61.16 million units, an increase of 19.3% year-on-year, becoming the world's largest wrist wear equipment market. In addition, intelligent health monitoring equipment, portable electrocardiogram machines and ventilators have become hot spots in the market.
The continued emergence of healthy demand is becoming a new engine for consumption growth and has also created favorable conditions for supply-side updates and iterations. To fully unleash the potential of new health consumption, it may be better to focus on cultivating and expanding new service formats such as health examinations, consultations, and management. At the same time, various enterprises are encouraged to develop health service products that meet diverse and personalized needs. In addition, we can also cultivate more new growth points for healthy consumption by promoting digital transformation in the field of health services.
Healthy consumption provides broad space for consumption quality improvement and upgrading, but new business formats also face some old problems that hinder the development of "healthy". For example, false propaganda, excessive marketing and induce consumption still exist, and public health literacy needs to be improved, etc. Creating a good and healthy market environment is inseparable from the regulations and guidance of the industry by relevant departments. At the same time, we will carry out in-depth actions to promote health literacy for the whole people and continuously improve public health literacy. Merchants should also abide by the business philosophy of honesty and trustworthiness and provide consumers with healthier products and services.
As more and more consumers’ health management is put on the agenda, healthy consumption will continue to accelerate, and my country’s consumption structure will continue to be optimized and upgraded, thereby effectively empowering the development of the health industry. In the near future, health and wellness may no longer be the nagging of the older generation, but will become a new type of life aesthetic pursued by the younger generation. (China Economic Network commentator Zang Mengya)
