Yoga has grown massively in popularity over the past few years, with passionate yogis stretching around the world.
It’s great for both your mental and physical health, and with the value of the yoga industry growing annually, the trend shows no sign of slowing down.
Yoga Stats and Facts: A Quick Summary
- 36 million Americans practice yoga.
- Between 2012 and 2016 the number of Americans doing yoga grew by 50%.
- There are an estimated 300 million yoga practitioners worldwide.
- The worldwide yoga industry is worth $80 billion.
- Americans spend $16 billion on yoga classes and equipment each year.
- 72% of yoga practitioners are female.
- Men practicing yoga rose from 4 million in 2012 to 10 million in 2016.
- 1.7 million children are practicing yoga in the US.
- Flexibility and stress relief are the most popular reasons for starting yoga.
- There are currently 100,000 yoga teachers registered in the US.
Key Statistics on Yoga: Infographic
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Popularity of Yoga Statistics
Take a look at our summary of the latest yoga statistics, to understand its growing popularity across the US (and the rest of the world!):
More recent data suggests that this number could reach 55 million in 2020.
A survey conducted by the Yoga Alliance and Yoga Journal found that the number of Americans doing yoga rose from 20.4 million to 36 million between 2012 and 2016.
In fact, yoga popularity stats show that 15% of Americans have practiced yoga in the last six months.
Statistics show that meditation has also grown in popularity and become another go-to complementary health approach for Americans.
Hot yoga, originally known as Bikram yoga, is also growing in popularity.
It has lots of benefits but there are also a few risks that you can read more about here.
Yoga Demographics: Who practices yoga?
Yoga is no longer exclusively for the deeply spiritual. Everyone seems to be taking up the practice, however there are certain groups who know their asanas better than others:
Women can enjoy lots of health advantages from the practice, and so can men, which has led to an increasing number of men taking up yoga!
However yoga statistics show it’s growing in popularity with those over 50:
- 19% of yoga practitioners are 18 – 29 year olds
- 43% of yoga practitioners are 30 – 49 year olds
- 38% of yoga practitioners are 50+ year olds
With so many advantages for kids, it’s no wonder that 400,000 more children are practicing yoga in 2012 than they were in 2007.
Educated people are also more likely to do yoga, with research showing that 90% of yogis hold a degree.
Yoga Market Size Statistics: Scale of the industry
As yoga has become increasingly mainstream, the worth of the yoga market has grown beyond all expectations:
2. Americans spend $16 billion on yoga classes and equipment each year and it looks set to keep rising.
The Yoga in America Study revealed a $6 billion increase from $10 billion in 2012, for classes as well as equipment, clothing, books and magazines.
Information from IBIS World showed that from 2002 to 2012 the pilates and yoga industry grew on average 12.1% per year, and was very resistant to the recession by still experiencing growth in 2008 and 2009.
Lululemon, one of the biggest yoga clothing brands, recently published their online sales showing a 157% increase during 2020.
They also reported how yogis watched 950,000 hours of their YouTube content during the first few months of the 2020 global pandemic.
Benefits of Yoga Statistics
Yoga has shown to have a number of different health benefits (you can read about them all here!) for both your physical and mental wellbeing.
In fact, there are a number of yoga poses that are particularly useful.
If you’re one of the 80% of Americans struggling with back pain, it could be worth a try!
Research by the CDC showed that yoga practices in the workplace can improve the wellbeing of employees and in turn increase productivity.
Findings published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, showed the more yoga sessions a respondent attended each week, the greater the reduction in their depressive symptoms.
There are a number of depression and anxiety-reducing asanas you can try, to help calm a busy mind.
5. According to the 2016 Yoga in America study, improving flexibility was the most popular reason for starting yoga.
Stress relief, general fitness, improvement of overall health and physical fitness were also in the top five reasons for yoga participation.
The study revealed that there weren’t just benefits for their health too, yoga practitioners are more likely to live green, eat sustainably and volunteer their time to their local community.
Researchers in Spain ran a study with 249 children looking at how physical exercise impacted the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Yoga proved particularly successful in alleviating the symptoms.
With fascinating findings coming to light about the current state of people’s sleep, yoga was found to help yoga practitioners fall asleep faster.
Research conducted by the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center found that yoga can help you lose weight.
Not only did respondents drop pounds during the research but they reported a changed mindset. By adopting a more mindful approach to eating, they felt it would encourage them to keep the weight off.
Dangers of Yoga Statistics
Anyone who tells you that yoga “is just stretching” needs to look at the yoga injury statistics.
The Faculty of Health Science at Sydney University carried out a study in 2017 which followed 354 respondents with musculoskeletal pain, who had previously taken yoga classes.
21% of participants said yoga made their pain worse, with more than 10% reporting that they felt yoga had caused their pain.
A study by the Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine in Germany, found that the shoulder stand and variations of the lotus pose also caused a higher number of injuries than other yoga poses.
The ongoing monitoring by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, found that in 2001 there were 9.5 injuries per 100,000 participants with the number rising to 17 per 100,000, making it comparable to sports such as weight-training and golf.
The rise is believed to have come from unqualified teachers offering classes to eager beginners.
However compare the number of yoga injuries to another popular sport such as basketball (149 injuries per 100,000) and you’ll see that statistically yoga is much safer.
It’s simply a case of making sure that you’re doing the poses correctly, chiropractor Kai Tiltmann advises:
Our current workout culture, including CrossFit, HIIT (high intensity interval training), and even yoga, can have negative consequences for the low back. In a way it’s ironic since we exercise to be strong and stay fit. However when done incorrectly these activities can cause low back pain and major tissue damage including fractures.
Yoga Worldwide: Global Statistics
It isn’t just the US that has fallen in love with yoga! The practice has spread quickly around the world:
Though yoga originated in India, many countries across the world have now claimed it as their own.
While it can be difficult to monitor yoga popularity by country, Google Trend data shows which countries Google ‘yoga’ and associated terms the most, which gives a good indication of popularity.
At the time of writing, the top five countries googling about yoga were:
- Canada
- Singapore
- Australia
- United States
- India
Supporting the Google Trend data is a study by The Frazer Institute, which found yoga was one of the top three most common complementary therapies used by the population of Canada over a lifetime:
- Massage (44%)
- Chiropractic Care (42%)
- Yoga (27%)
- Relaxation Techniques (25%)
- Acupuncture (22%)
Now you’ve read a rundown of the latest yoga stats, it’s time to get to grips with the facts!
References
- Harvard Health Publishing. (2016) New survey reveals the rapid rise of yoga — and why some people still haven’t tried it. [Online] Available from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/new-survey-reveals-the-rapid-rise-of-yoga-and-why-some-people-still-havent-tried-it-201603079179 [Accessed 8 December 2020]. ↩
- Harvard Health Publishing. (see footnote 1) ↩
- USA Today. (2015) Ancient practice of yoga now a growth industry. [Online] Available from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/01/yoga-health-fitness-trends/23881391/ [Accessed 8 December 2020]. ↩
- One in three Americans have tried yoga at least once. (see footnote 1) ↩
- Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. (2016) The 2016 Yoga in America Study Conducted by Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. [Online] Available from: https://www.yogaalliance.org/Portals/0/2016%20Yoga%20in%20America%20Study%20RESULTS.pdf [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- National Institutes of Health. (2018) More adults and children are using yoga and meditation. [Online] Available from: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/more-adults-children-are-using-yoga-meditation [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- Yogi Times. (2020) 4 financial habits of highly successful yoga business owners. [Online] Available from: https://www.yogitimes.com/article/yoga-business-habits-success-studio-owners [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- Yoga Alliance. (2020) Yoga Alliance - About Yoga Alliance. [Online] Available from: https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Yoga_Alliance [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- Statista. (2016) Types of yoga people in the U.S. do or did 2016. [Online] Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/639286/popular-types-of-yoga-in-us/ [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. (see footnote 5) ↩
- Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. (see footnote 5) ↩
- Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. (see footnote 5) ↩
- Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. (see footnote 5) ↩
- Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. (see footnote 5) ↩
- Harvard Health Publishing Source Date: 2016. (2016) More than just a game: Yoga for school-age children. [Online] Available from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/more-than-just-a-game-yoga-for-school-age-children-201601299055 [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. (see footnote 5) ↩
- US National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health. (2013) National Survey of Yoga Practitioners: Mental and Physical Health Benefits. [Online] Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3721070/ [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- US National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health. (see footnote 17) ↩
- The Guardian. (2017) The yoga industry is booming – but does it make you a better person? [Online] Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/17/yoga-better-person-lifestyle-exercise [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. (see footnote 5) ↩
- New Statesman. (2012) IBIS World - Top 10 Fastest-Growing Industries. [Online] Available from: https://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/files/Fastest%20Growing%20Industries.pdf [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- Multichannel Merchant. (2016) Why Millennials Love Activewear — The Numbers Behind This Explosive Growth. [Online] Available from: https://multichannelmerchant.com/blog/why-millennials-love-activewear-the-numbers-behind-this-explosive-growth/ [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- Think with Google. (2017) . [Online] Available from: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/search-statistics-for-yoga-meditation-apps/ [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- US National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health. (2016) Yoga as a treatment for chronic low back pain: A systematic review of the literature. [Online] Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4878447/ [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017) Prevalence of Mindfulness Practices in the US Workforce: National Health Interview Survey. [Online] Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2017/16_0034.htm [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. (see footnote 5) ↩
- British Journal of Sports Medicine. (2020) Effects of yoga on depressive symptoms in people with mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. [Online] Available from: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2020/04/05/bjsports-2019-101242 [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. (see footnote 5) ↩
- National Library of Medicine - National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2015) The effects of physical exercise in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials. [Online] Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25988743/ [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2015) Wellness-Related Use of Common Complementary Health Approaches Among Adults: United States, 2012. [Online] Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr085.pdf [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2015) Wellness-Related Use of Common Complementary Health Approaches Among Adults: United States, 2012. [Online] Available from: https://www.nccih.nih.gov/research/wellness-related-use-of-common-complementary-health-approaches-among-adults-united-states-2012 [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (see footnote 31) ↩
- Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. (2016) The 2016 Yoga in America Study Conducted by Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance. [Online] Available from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/28/yogamore-dangerous-previously-thought-scientists-say/ [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- The Telegraph. (see footnote 5) ↩
- ABC Health & Wellbeing. (2013) Can yoga be dangerous? [Online] Available from: https://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2013/05/02/3750102.htm [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- SAGE Journals - Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine. (2016) Yoga-Related Injuries in the United States From 2001 to 2014. [Online] Available from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2325967116671703 [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- BMJ Journals - Journal of ISAKOS. (see footnote 36) ↩
- Yogi Times. (2020) Demographics & statistics of the yoga industry. [Online] Available from: https://www.yogitimes.com/article/unstoppable-trend-yoga-infographic-business [Accessed 08 December 2020]. ↩
- The Guardian. (see footnote 19) ↩
- Yogi Times. (see footnote 38) ↩
This is such good news, I love yoga and love the fact more and more people are practicing it.
Yes absolutely. x