Which Countries are Searching to be Healthier in 2023?  

Whether you’re trying to incorporate a lunchtime jog, up your vitamin intake, eat more fruit and veg or take 30 minutes out of the day to meditate, self-care continues to be incredibly important to everyday wellness. 

When setting new, healthy, or challenging goals, many people take to Google to research their chosen activity, looking for tips on how to get started, how to stay accountable or find more information about how to achieve these healthier lifestyles.

As devoting more time to self-care can only be a good thing, we wanted to discover which nations around the world were leading the way with their healthy habits.

We took to Google to research 60 health and wellbeing related terms and analysed their search volume in over 220 countries to find out which countries are collectively searching most to be healthier this year, and which habits are topping their searches. 

The health and wellbeing terms were translated where necessary, and our team analysed which countries were searching for them most regularly. The results may surprise you... 

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 Image by EnergieDeVie from Pixabay

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Countries with the Healthiest Habits

The United States ranks as the most health-conscious country, making over 49 million searches for vitamins, meditation and gym locations – almost five times as many as the runner up, England.

With over 11.4 million searches annually, England ranks in second position for healthy habit searches globally. Another nation well-known for investing in their mental and physical wellbeing, searches for local gyms, advice around vitamins, meditation and mindfulness, as well as the popular couch to 5k running programme earned the nation its runner up position.

The UK is known for its overcast and often gloomy climate, averaging a meagre 1,403 hours of sun annually – a lack of which can result in vitamin D deficiency, resulting in low mood. It may come as no surprise then, that the average English person is tackling this by taking to Google to search for ‘vitamin D’, which ranks as the second most searched health query in the country. 

As well as administering vitamin D to prevent low mood and look after mental health, the English are combining mental and physical wellbeing through fitness trends such as yoga and tai chi; ‘yoga class near me’ and ‘tai chi near me’ both rank highly on England’s most searched healthy habits list. 

Well-known for its stunning beaches, vibrant cities and vast rainforests, Brazil scored third position with its residents making over 11.2 million searches around healthier habits. Despite the country’s all-year-round sun, vitamin D is highly searched for in the nation, with many looking to potentially harness the beneficial bone properties of the vitamin. 

Brazil also saw a high number of searches around mental-wellbeing, with both ‘meditation’ and ‘journaling’ seeing 782,500 and 398,600 annual searches, respectively. 

Other countries looking to introduce more healthy habits into their daily routine were Canada in fifth place, Australia in eighth position and France in 12th.

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The UK’s Healthiest Habits

Whilst our study delved into search data from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the global rankings, the United Kingdom’s searches as a whole were combined to reveal just under 13 million queries for health and wellbeing phrases.  

The UK’s most searched-for phrase was gym-related, and with over 7,200 health and fitness clubs in the UK alone and more than 10 million combined members, the UK is one of the biggest fitness hotspots in Europe. With this in mind, perhaps it’s no surprise that over 6.6. million ‘gym near me’ searches are made in the country annually. 

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Image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay

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Revealed as the UK’s fifth most searched healthy habit was ‘couch to 5k’. A popular app to encourage regular running, it gives beginners a manageable and achievable training plan to motivate even those newest to running to lace up their shoes. With over 6 million runs recorded on the app in 2022, Brits are clearly getting the running bug, looking to kickstart new, healthy habits.  

Vitamin searches made up over 2.4 million searches for the nation, with research around vitamin D and B12 being the second and third most searched. 

As well as being focused on their physical health, UK residents were looking for ways to instil healthy habits for their mental health too, with searches around ‘mindfulness’ and ‘meditation’ regularly being made. Often touted as a way to combat stress, mindfulness is becoming increasingly popular across different ages with apps like Calm and Headspace being go-to choices to try out the habit. 

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Outside of analysing which countries are searching most frequently for new healthy habits, we also wanted to dig into our findings a little further, to find out which countries were searching for specific wellness habits, such as journaling and drinking more water. 

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Who is interested in journaling the most?

A growing trend, journaling is simply writing down how you feel to allow you to work through and process your thoughts in a more manageable format. Borrowing principles from mindfulness, the wellness activity has sparked interest in recent years as people all over the world turn to the method to help deal with stress and overwhelming thoughts. With over 4.9 billion views under the TikTok hashtag #journaling, it’s clearly a healthy habit that shows no signs of slowing down.

The country with the most searches around journaling overall was Indonesia, with a staggering 1.26 million searches of the healthy habit. With many different types of journaling, from writing down daily thoughts and mood tracking, to recording memorable moments and daily gratitude, it’s clearly struck a chord with many generations.

Following closely behind was Spain, and Bosnia and Herzegovina who had the second and third highest searches for ‘journaling’ respectively.

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Who is looking to up their water intake?

Known to help several ailments, as well as improving energy levels and brain function, increased water consumption is an aspirational habit, with many people finding it hard to hit their daily recommended amount while working, exercising or getting distracted by day-to-day activities.

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Image by Kira from Pixabay

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Crowned as the country with the healthiest habits overall, the United States is also the nation looking to hit their individual water drinking targets. With over 40,000 annual searches for ‘drink more water’, residents are trying to invest in their health by researching for tips on getting more fluids into their day. 

Residents from Hong Kong, England and the Philippines also had the highest searches for the water-related term.

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Who wants to reduce their screen time?

With much of our daily life spent behind screens, excessive use of devices can contribute towards poor quality of sleep, eye strain and some mental health problems. And with US adults reportedly predicted to spend the equivalent of 44 years of their life looking at a screen, it’s no wonder that they are looking to reduce their screen time consumption.

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Image by Thomas Ulrich from Pixabay

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The US topped the rankings as the country searching the most for ‘reduce screen time’ with over 8,000 searches a year. With remote working popular across the world, the lines between work and home are becoming blurred, with people spending more time than ever before in front of a screen, so it’s only right that people around the world are looking for help to adjust their habits. 

This was the same for England, Canada and Australia who also had a high number of searches for this healthy habit.

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Who is researching how to increase their step count?

With convenience creeping into everyday life, from smaller commutes, quicker transport links, and even delivery services, our step count is gradually starting to decrease. With a higher number of steps proven to have multiple health benefits, people around the world are looking to find ways to squeeze more time on their feet into their daily routine. 

From walking desk treadmills, lunchtime strolls and weekend hikes, there are loads of ways to bring this healthy habit into everyday life, and France tops the list of countries who are searching for tips around '10,000 steps a day’. European searches dominated for this category, with the top five countries all based in the continent including Germany and Italy. 

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Who wants a better quality of sleep?

We are increasingly protective over our sleep schedules, with even an hour less each night having the ability to play havoc with our energy levels the following day. With our work, personal lives, childcare and even past experiences causing us to lose sleep, people are turning to Google to get advice on how to sleep more soundly.

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Image by JayMantri from Pixabay

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As home to many cities that have a thriving ‘after dark’ lifestyle, the United States topped the list for countries with the highest searches for ‘how to sleep better’. With bright streetlights, cars racing past, or even snoring partners, these distractions can be big issues for light sleepers, and with the obvious benefits associated with more sleep, Americans are looking for ways to extend their sleep hours. 

Brazil also featured with almost 25,000 annual searches for ‘how to sleep better’, whilst Canada and France round off the top five countries with the most searches. 

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We hope this has inspired you to try and form a new healthy habit, be it physical or mental. If your goals are fitness related, be sure to take a look at our training and fitness hubs for advice, alongside ensuring you have the right kit so that injuries don’t wreak havoc on your new routine.

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Methodology:

SportsShoes used 60 search terms relating to healthy habits (e.g., 'journaling’, ‘how to get better sleep’, ‘how to train for a marathon’, ‘gyms near me’, ‘drink more water’) and used Google Keyword Planner to analyse which countries were collectively searching for these terms the most.

Countries where no data/limited data was present were omitted from the results.

Where relevant, all terms were translated before data was analysed.

Data correct as of March 2023.