Supplements industry research summary. Supplements are becoming an extremely popular option for consumers, given their rapid growth in recent years, and massive companies like GNC. Now, supplements take up a large portion of advertising space, and that’s despite not being FDA-regulated.
If you want to learn more about the supplements industry and the best-selling supplements, consider these industry insights our research uncovered:
- 77% of Americans take at least one supplement.
- The average American spends $96.50 per trip on vitamins and supplements.
- The U.S. vitamin & supplement manufacturing industry is worth $35.6 billion as of 2022.
- The global supplements’ industry is expected to have a CAGR of 6.9% between 2021 and 2026.
For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Consumers | Trends and Projections | Types of Supplements
GENERAL SUPPLEMENTS INDUSTRY STATISTICS
More popular than ever, supplements are becoming a staple of many American households. Just how booming is the industry in 2022? Well, according to our research:
- the global Dietary Supplements market is worth $165.71 billion as of 2022.
With a large portion of that profit coming from Vitamins, that ingredient accounts for 30.8% of the revenue share. Overall, the industry continues to grow because more and more people want to improve their health by taking vitamins and other valuable substances.
- Americans spend $30.2 billion on supplements every single year.
That’s $28.3 billion for adults and $1.9 billion for children, or 9.2% of all out-of-pocket U.S. health care spending. Plus, these numbers are divided among only 59 million Americans, meaning that the average person purchasing supplements is spending over $500 per year on them.
- The U.S. Supplements industry has an average profit margin of 38%.
While that is considerably less than the overall Pharmaceutical profit margin of 76.5%, it still makes Supplement suppliers and distributers a lot of money. For instance, the average supplement store still makes over $100,000 in income per year.
- There are over 29,000 different dietary supplements available to U.S. consumers.
And if that isn’t enough, there are also approximately 1,000 new supplements added to the market every single year.
SUPPLEMENTS INDUSTRY STATISTICS BY CONSUMERS
The supplements industry wouldn’t exist if there weren’t people who wanted to buy them. Consumers are what shape the industry, and they’re also what’s making it grow so rapidly. According to our research:
- 77% of Americans take at least one supplement.
More specifically, 57.6% of Americans aged 20 and over have used a dietary supplement in the past 30 days, while overall usage grows higher as age increases.
- 25.59% more women use supplements than men.
As a whole, 63.8% of women use supplements, while 50.8% of men do. Further, these numbers are even more pronounced as age increases, with 80.2% of women 60+ taking supplements, as opposed to 67.3% of men.
- Those from the Greatest Generation spend the most on supplements, at $129.58 per purchase.
As the oldest living generation, the Greatest Generation spends by far the most on supplements. Then, continuing in the order of age: Baby Boomers spend an average of $111.59, followed by Gen X ($82.06) and Millennials ($62.73).
- 74% of Americans are concerned that supplements are not backed by trustworthy research.
Despite the fact that 40% of supplement users say they do so to boost their immune systems, many still have doubts about their effectiveness. Interestingly, these doubts don’t seem to be affecting sales.
- 72% of consumers have confidence in herbal supplements.
Despite overall distrust of the industry, consumers tend to trust products they view as natural more than ones they associate with the Pharmaceutical industry.
SUPPLEMENTS INDUSTRY STATISTICS TRENDS AND PROJECTIONS
Supplements are popular now, but that wasn’t always the case. To understand where the industry is now and where it might be heading in the future, here are some interesting facts about relevant trends and projections:
- From 1975 to 2015, American supplement use increased by 25%.
Over the course of a 40-year period, U.S. supplement use has seen a steady increase. By 2014, over half the population used supplements.
- Consumer interest in vitamin C, vitamin D, elderberry, and echinacea spiked by 3x-16x in March 2020.
While the U.S. supplements industry did have a 2-3% growth between 2015-2019, those numbers spiked in 2020. As more people became concerned about the COVID-19 virus and their immune health, the growth of the supplements industry increased by 5-8% in one year.
- The U.S. dietary supplement market size is expected to reach $56.7 billion by 2024.
With a market size of $31.7 billion in 2016, the U.S. dietary supplement market is expected to grow by 78.9% in less than ten years.
- Revenue from the U.S. vitamins and minerals market is expected to reach $4.06 billion in 2023.
The U.S. has the second-largest vitamins and minerals market, behind only China ($5.07 billion), while others in the top five countries include: Japan ($1.99 billion), Brazil ($906 million), and the UK ($575 million).
- The global beauty supplement market has one of the highest CAGRs in the industry, at a projected 9.5% through 2026.
Though a smaller portion of the overall supplements industry, the beauty supplement market is growing at a fast pace. Between 2017 and 2026, the market is expected to grow from $4.12 billion to $9.3 billion.
SUPPLEMENTS INDUSTRY STATISTICS BY TYPES OF SUPPLEMENTS
From gaining strength for sports to clear skin for beauty competitions, there are supplements out there for almost any occasion. With that in mind, here are some interesting insights into different types of supplements, according to our research:
- Americans spend an average of $2.1 billion per year on weight loss supplements.
- 15% of U.S. adults have tried weight loss supplements (21% women, 10% men)
- The most popular supplement in the U.S. is Vitamin D, with 66% of consumers choosing to purchase it.
- Between 2017 and 2022, CBD supplement sales increased by 422% (from $367 million to $1.92 billion)
- 5.7% of college athletes take caffeinated multivitamins, while a whopping 41.7% use protein supplements.
- 25% of U.S. adults mix dietary supplements with prescription medications.
- 112.5% more women take iron supplements than men. (17% of women take them as opposed to only 8% of men).