Chinese urbanites are facing a wide range of emotional and mental health issues. According to data commissioned for this Report, 82% of surveyed consumers state that their stress levels are about the same or have increased as compared to 12 months ago (representing 551 million urbanised people aged 18 and onwards). Similarly, 78% (524 million) and 69% (464 million) are feeling tired and anxious respectively. The spotlight on such health issues reveals the unbalanced distribution of care services, as psychological counselling is currently not being integrated into the Healthcare Security system and there is insufficient professional capacity.

COVID-19 has also exacerbated the emotional wellbeing crisis, in part due to anxiety towards catching the virus, concerns towards regional outbreaks, as well as personal finance challenges which overshadow the ability to spend on activities that help consumers to relax (eg holidays, eating out).

Since most consumers see emotional issues as just a part of life, they have developed a comprehensive understanding of ways to manage these - particularly leaning on usage of comfort food and lifestyle changes such as listening to music, exercise and speaking to friends and families, rather than a piecemeal approach which relies on specific actions such as meeting psychologists. As a result, brands could put more emphasis on leveraging a sense of ritual and take an emotional approach in marketing communications so as to tap into consumers' daily needs for emotional wellbeing management.

In the post-COVID-19 period, it will be a time for brands and companies which are not traditionally related to emotional wellness (eg foodservice, travelling, SPA/massage/aromatherapy) to re-examine their business strategies and pivot offerings to meet consumers’ desire for products that mix mental and physical wellbeing as part of a holistic wellness pursuit. Brands might also need to create more inclusive and supportive environments, allowing consumers to talk about emotional wellbeing (eg respecting people who either want to beat or who live with loneliness, offering supportive services in the workplace, leveraging technology to make psychological counselling easier, etc).

• Understanding the state of today’s consumers’ emotional issues, as well as perceived causes and the impact of having such emotional issues

• What approaches are sought to manage emotional wellbeing

• How brands, companies and manufacturers could react to market opportunities and threats post-COVID-19

This Report investigates consumers’ behaviours and attitudes towards emotional wellbeing management. Since there is no clear authoritative definition on emotional wellbeing, for the purpose of the Report, emotional wellbeing refers to consumers’ self-evaluation on a broad range of feelings including stress, tiredness, anxiety, depression and loneliness.

It also explores the causes (eg financial stress, workload, relationships, etc) and impact (eg sleep problems, difficulty to concentrate, various physical pain, etc) of having emotional issues, as well as what methods are sought to manage emotional wellbeing (eg comfort food, exercise, music, shopping, spa/massage/aromatherapy, psychological counselling, etc).

Mintel divides consumers into three groups based on their MHI (Monthly Household Income).