Healthy living tops Indian consumers’ list of goals and aspirations

It seems the pursuit of a healthier lifestyle is a nationwide obsession in India as healthy living tops the list of consumers goals and aspirations. New research from global market intelligence agency Mintel reveals that nearly half (48%) of consumers in India aim to live a healthier lifestyle, followed by better time management (30%), improving relationships with family and friends (25%), and travelling (24%).

Further down on the agenda, just 8% of consumers say they wish to get married in the next three years, rising to less than three in 10 (27%) of those who are still single. Meanwhile, just 5% of consumers say they’d like to have a child, making this the lowest priority on the list of consumer’s goals and aspirations.

Close to three in four (72%) Indian consumers report increased happiness as their motivation for leading a healthy lifestyle, while over half say that they aim to live healthily in order to look better (56%) and to feel better (53%). Additionally, two in five (41%) say they aim to lead a healthy lifestyle in order to live longer, while just 10% wish to do so to manage their health conditions. Currently, over half (52%) of Indian adults say they eat a healthy diet as part of their healthy living habits.

Ranjana Sundaresan, Senior Research Analyst at Mintel, said: “Many Indians believe leading a healthy lifestyle will have a knock-off effect on their personal happiness. There has been quite a bit of publicity regarding the rise in lifestyle diseases among Indians, and, thus, growing awareness of the importance of being healthy.”

While healthy living tops the list of consumers’ aspirations, it seems few are taking steps towards living a healthier life. Just one in three (34%) say they are always trying new things to improve their health, while one in four (26%) say they research health concerns and 10% say they research or think about health a lot but rarely make changes. This opens up quite a bit of opportunity for companies to offer consumers convenient solutions that could encourage making that change.

Research from Mintel indicates that the food industry has already taken steps to appeal to consumers changing demands. According to Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD), “natural” was the second largest claim carried on food launches in India last year, behind “suitable for” claims, accounting for 28% of all food product launches in 2016, up from 22% in 2012.