Africa's healthcare economy: A $132 billion market poised for expansion despite income and infrastructure challenges

Written by: Ayman Ragab

The minimum value of the health and wellness economy in Africa is estimated at $132 billion by 2025, according to a report based on data from the Global Wellness Institute. This figure is a preliminary estimate and not comprehensive, as it combines the sub-Saharan African market of $94 billion, and the markets of Egypt at $14.69 billion, Morocco at $10.22 billion, Algeria at $9.19 billion, and Tunisia at $3.88 billion.

The report notes that the institute separates sub-Saharan Africa from the Middle East and North Africa region, and comparable data on Libya is not available, making it difficult to calculate the full value of the African market.

However, this minimum of $132 billion represents only about 2% of the global health and wellness economy, which was valued at $6.764 trillion in 2024, according to the Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2025 report.

The size of the official market is limited.

The report argues that the weakness of this share does not reflect a decrease in demand, but rather is due to the small size of the formal market, the decline in average individual spending, and the difficulty of measuring wellness activities, which in many countries are still linked to the informal economy and community practices, according to (Ecofin Agency).

Contrary to the traditional image that links the wellness economy to luxury resorts and spas, the African market relies primarily on products and services related to daily life. The cosmetics and personal care sector holds the largest share at $25.2 billion, followed by the health food, nutrition, and weight management sector at $21.3 billion.

Prevention and personalized medicine services are valued at $19.4 billion, while physical activity services are valued at $12.8 billion. These four sectors form the backbone of Africa’s wellness economy, thanks to high demand, wide distribution channels, and their ability to meet health, aesthetic, and social needs simultaneously.

In many African markets, low-cost skincare products, nutritional supplements, and sports memberships have a wider customer base than spas or rehab programs.

South Africa leads the wellness markets in the continent with a value of $25.38 billion, followed by Egypt with $14.69 billion, then Morocco with $10.22 billion, Algeria with $9.19 billion, Nigeria with $8.78 billion, Kenya with $8.38 billion, then Tunisia, Tanzania, Ghana and Angola.

The report indicates that the low average individual spending is one of the most prominent challenges facing the sector, as the average spending on health and wellness in sub-Saharan Africa does not exceed $73 per person per year, compared to a global average of $831, which limits the spread of high-cost services and products.

Therefore, companies rely on strategies based on small packages, reasonable prices, local manufacturing whenever possible, in addition to distributing products through pharmacies, supermarkets, beauty salons, independent stores, and social media platforms.

The future of the sector in Africa will not depend on replicating global models.

Conversely, the report suggests that integrating beauty services with functional nutrition, sleep care, and health services could increase the added value for each consumer, a trend also confirmed by McKinsey’s “State of Beauty 2026” study.

The report emphasizes that the future of the sector in Africa will not depend on replicating global models, but rather on adapting them to income levels, local customs, and the nature of informal markets.

Despite South Africa's dominance of the market, other countries are recording rapid growth rates. Ivory Coast achieved the highest annual growth rate during the period between 2019 and 2024 at 8.9% in dollars, followed by Morocco at 8.6%, then Tanzania at 6.9% and Tunisia at 6%.

The report attributes this growth to the expansion of the urban class, especially in West Africa, in addition to the flourishing tourism and premium services in Morocco, Tunisia and some island destinations.

In contrast, Nigeria reveals the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on market valuation, as its wellness economy contracted at a rate of 7.6% per annum when calculated in dollars, while it recorded growth of 26.5% in local currency, reflecting a rise in domestic consumption in conjunction with a decline in the value of the national currency and a rise in the cost of imports.

The report also highlights the growing role of medical tourism, which is expected to be worth between $8.2 and $9 billion in sub-Saharan Africa during 2024. Although its size is still smaller than the beauty and nutrition sectors, it recorded growth of 18.4% in one year, while the number of health resorts increased by 23%, and thermal and mineral springs by 18.6%.

This activity benefits from the recovery of tourism on the continent, as Africa received 81 million international tourists during 2025, an increase of 8%, while North Africa recorded growth of 11%, and this trend continued during the first quarter of 2026 with an increase in the number of arrivals of 4%.

This sector allows investors to generate foreign currency revenue and increase average spending per visitor by combining accommodation, treatments, physical activities and cultural experiences, but it remains more vulnerable to fluctuations in travel costs, security conditions and global economic cycles.

On another front, the report highlights the significant gap in the field of mental health, as the value of its market in sub-Saharan Africa does not exceed $3.03 billion, even though about 150 million people in the WHO African Region suffer from mental disorders, while only nine countries allocate independent budgets for this sector.

The report argues that the large scale of needs does not necessarily mean there is a market capable of financing services, so the most sustainable models appear to be those that rely on financing from employers, insurance companies, telecommunications companies, or health institutions, rather than relying directly on household spending.

The report also indicates that mobile phones represent an important channel for expanding services, especially with the mobile communications sector contributing about $240 billion to the African economy by 2025, according to the GSMA. However, about one billion Africans are still outside the reach of the internet via mobile phone, which limits the effectiveness of digital models based solely on applications.

Therefore, the report calls for supporting digital services with other channels, such as call centers, WhatsApp, traditional networks, and partnerships with employers and distributors, stressing that business success depends more on reducing the cost of reaching customers and building trust, and not just on technological development.

Meanwhile, investors have begun to turn to health-related sectors, with the Partech report predicting that African technology companies will receive $4.1 billion in funding during 2025, while the health technology sector attracted $224 million through 51 deals, registering growth of 232%.

The report also sees that traditional medicine has great opportunities to transform into a more regulated economic activity, provided that quality standards, traceability, and reliance on scientific evidence are strengthened, in line with the World Health Organization’s Global Strategy for Traditional Medicine 2025-2034, which focuses on safety, regulation, and integration into health systems.

The report concludes that the future of the wellness economy in Africa will be shaped by three parallel paths: low-cost products targeting urban markets, premium services based on tourism, and health solutions distributed through institutions such as insurance companies and employers. It argues that the success of this sector will not depend on importing global models, but rather on adapting them to the continent's economic and social realities, thus transforming a still relatively small global market into a well-organized and sustainable African industry.