Women are Living Longer, But are they Living healthier? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1318

Women are Living Longer, But are they Living healthier? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1318

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1318 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here.

Credit: Yan Krukau

Credit: Mikhail Nilov

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Preamble

This post is based on recently published Boston Consulting Group research. Link at the end.

The $350 Billion Question: Why Women’s Longevity Is the Next Big Healthcare Opportunity

Women are living longer, but are they living healthier? That question may become one of the most important questions in healthcare over the next decade.

Women generally live longer than men. Yet the additional years are not necessarily years of good health. According to Boston Consulting Group’s latest research on women and longevity, women spend a larger proportion of their lives in poor health than men. BCG estimates that women spend about 25% more of their lives in poor health, creating a substantial gap between lifespan and healthspan.

At the same time, an enormous market is emerging around longevity, products, services, medicines, diagnostics, nutrition, digital health, preventive care and personalized healthcare designed to help people remain healthy for longer.

But there is a problem. Much of the longevity market has effectively been designed around a relatively generic model of aging that does not adequately reflect the biological and healthcare journeys of women. BCG's research puts a striking commercial number on that mismatch: an estimated $350 billion in unmet demand among women in perimenopause and menopause who are already spending on longevity and would spend more if better solutions existed. This is not simply a market opportunity. It is a signal that healthcare has a significant unmet-need problem.

Women Are Highly Engaged But Poorly Served

One of the most interesting findings from BCG's global survey is the contradiction at the heart of the women's longevity market. Women in perimenopause and menopause are among the most engaged longevity consumers, yet they are also among the least satisfied with the solutions available to them.

BCG surveyed 10,608 respondents across 12 countries, including India, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, Japan, Brazil, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and the UAE.

Women in the perimenopause/menopause transition had adopted longevity interventions at rates 15 to 22 percentage points higher than other women or men, after adjusting for age. Yet their satisfaction remained around 50%. In other words, they are trying more solutions, spending more money and still not getting the outcomes they want.

That is a classic indicator of an underserved market. It also challenges a common assumption that the problem is lack of consumer interest. The interest is already there. The spending is already there. The unmet need is already there. What appears to be missing is a sufficiently effective, evidence-based and integrated healthcare response.

Longevity Is Not Gender-Neutral

Perhaps the most important conceptual insight from the BCG research is that women and men do not experience aging in exactly the same way.

Women live longer than men but spend more years in poor health. BCG cites research showing that in the United States, women spend about 13.7 years in poor health compared with 11.1 years for men. The difference is even larger in some European countries. This evidence changes the entire healthcare strategy. It shifts the emphasis from lifespan to healthspan. And for women, it requires much greater attention to the distinctive biological transitions that influence health throughout life.

Menopause Is Not the Beginning of the Story

Another particularly important finding is that the healthcare industry may be starting the conversation too late. Menopause is often treated as the major milestone in women's aging. But BCG's research suggests that women's interest in long-term health frequently begins much earlier.

Hormonal and contraceptive changes and fertility-related issues, typically occurring around ages 36 to 38, increase women's interest in long-term health by about 8 percentage points, almost twice the reported effect of menopause itself, at 5 percentage points. That has major implications.

If companies, physicians and healthcare systems start addressing women's longevity only when menopause arrives, they may have missed an important window for prevention. The better approach may be a life-course model of women's health. Instead of separate healthcare silos, fertility, contraception, pregnancy, menopause, cardiovascular health, bone health and mental health, the industry needs to understand how these stages interact.

The Research Gap Is Still Significant

The problem begins much earlier, with research.

BCG points out that women were historically excluded from clinical trials on a systematic basis until changes introduced in the early 1990s. More than three decades later, women still represent only about 40% of clinical trial participants on average in the United States, according to the research cited by BCG. That is striking because women account for approximately 60% of psychiatric disease burden, 51% of oncology cases and 49% of cardiology cases.

The implication is straightforward: If the population experiencing a disease is not adequately represented in research, the resulting evidence base may not fully reflect the population that ultimately uses the treatment.

The Healthcare Provider Is Still Central

Women in perimenopause and menopause say that a proven solution recommended by a trusted doctor or healthcare provider is a major driver of willingness to spend more. Clinical research, better value, minimal side effects and insurance coverage also matter. This means that the future of women's longevity will not necessarily belong to companies with the most sophisticated technology. It may belong to organizations that successfully combine science with trust, personalization, and access. That is a valuable lesson for pharma marketers.

There Is Also a Provider Capability Problem

Demand alone cannot solve the problem. Healthcare professionals need the knowledge and skills to respond to it.

BCG reports that only 31% of US OB/GYN residency programs include menopause curriculum, while fewer than 7% of residents across family medicine, internal medicine and OB/GYN reportedly feel prepared to support menopausal patients.

This is an opportunity for healthcare systems, medical education organizations and pharmaceutical companies to contribute to better professional education, provided that such programs are evidence-based, transparent and appropriately separated from promotional objectives.

The $350 Billion Opportunity Is Really an Unmet-Need Signal

BCG estimates that approximately one billion women worldwide are in menopause and already spending on longevity, and that roughly one-third would spend more if the right products or services existed. The estimated incremental opportunity is approximately $350 billion.

The number is impressive. But perhaps the more important message is what sits behind it. There is an important difference between treating women's diseases and designing healthcare around women's longevity.

It requires pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, insurers, employers, technology companies and policymakers to think beyond individual products. 

Sum Up

BCG's research should be read as more than a market report. It is a warning about a structural mismatch. Women are living longer. Women are spending more. Women are actively searching for longevity solutions. Yet their satisfaction with available solutions remains low.

That combination does not occur often.

It creates an unusual situation in healthcare. The demand already exists before the market has fully developed the solution. The opportunity is substantial. But the real prize is not $350 billion. It is the possibility of closing the gap between living longer and living healthier. And that is a healthcare challenge worth solving.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, any claim is lodged, it will be acknowledged and duly recognized immediately. 

Reference:

https://www.bcg.com/publications/2026/womens-longevity-health-market-gap?utm_campaign=none&utm_description=ealert&utm_topic=none&utm_geo=global&utm_medium=email&utm_source=esp&utm_content=Sep%2025,%202026&utm_dmid=FE18187F-5EF3-EF11-83C9-126ABB57D457&mktNoTrack=1&mkt_tok=Nzk5LUlPQi04ODMAAAGkd6RwTxySgasik_JsE1za3SfKY0DqGhBuqS_9A5pNtCorxF6EFVrPKWVEySCXhfnNs2Y7aAJJvj72nweYKiZgOpsVhIbFd6dyHDAKBwScoWjC9HNs