PYMNTS Intelligence's 2024 Women's Wellness Index, a collaboration with CareCredit, leverages insights from a survey of more than 10,000 U.S. consumers to identify the many factors that shape women's financial situation and overall health and well-being. We now have a clearer understanding of the contributing factors.
For example, we found that women are 11% more likely than men to research aspects of health and wellness on their own, and 19% more likely to understand how to identify the best health and wellness provider .
This may explain why single women living alone have the best health outcomes, outperforming the average woman by 20% on our indicators.
why? Our data show that the medical needs of children and loved ones can be prioritized and have a significant impact on women's health outcomes.
As the accompanying graph shows, the highest percentage of women we surveyed who prioritize their own health and wellness (30%) are single without children. In contrast, 28% of women who live with a partner and have children prioritize the health and well-being of others in their family over themselves (18%). 22% of single mothers also consider their medical needs second to their girlfriends.
Meanwhile, women who are single parents are slightly more likely to prioritize the health and wellness of other family members (23.5%) than their own health and wellness concerns (22.3%). Masu. And, as you might expect, more single mothers (8.6%) thought financial goals were most important than women living together but without children (6.8%).
Elsewhere in the 2024 Women's Health Index, data shows that priorities change with age. The survey results revealed that older women are more likely than younger respondents to prioritize their health and wellness. For example, 86% of baby boomers and older adults say their health is a priority, but only 78% of Gen X respondents share this view. is. This is followed by Millennials (72%) and her Gen Z respondents.
This age-related priority may reflect a simple fact of life: as we grow older, health and wellness concerns tend to take center stage. The opposite expression of this principle can be seen in the fact that only 12% of baby boomer women and senior women (near retirement) say that career goals are a priority. Meanwhile, 58% of Gen Z respondents, 56% of Millennials, and 41% of Gen
Another key finding from the report is that women generally feel pressure to take care of others, which often interferes with their own health. The fact that older women seem more comfortable reprioritizing their needs suggests that that pressure may fade over time.
