Misc
The Growth of Home Fitness Apps
The Growth of Home Fitness Apps
Home fitness apps have been shaping our lives—and our glutes—long before COVID-19, but their popularity has truly surged in the last few months.
Which regions are driving this growth? And is home fitness here to stay, or will it fade away when the pandemic is over?
This graphic uses data from MoEngage and Apptopia to highlight the growth in home fitness apps across five different regions, representing 1.5 billion mobile app users. Note that the report uses data from Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store, so China was not included.
Growth, by Number of Downloads
Between Q1 and Q2 2020, health and fitness app downloads grew by 46% worldwide. Here’s a look at the regional breakdown:
| Region | Download Growth |
|---|---|
| India | 157% |
| MENA | 55% |
| Europe | 25% |
| Asia-Pacific | 47% |
| Rest of the World | 43% |
| Americas | 21% |
India saw the highest increase in downloads, rising by 156%. That translates to 58 million new active users—almost the entire population of Italy.
This makes sense considering that India had the largest lockdown in the world—from March 25 to May 2020, 1.3 billion people were instructed to stay inside. That’s a lot of people who, quite suddenly, found themselves homebound.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region saw the second highest growth in downloads, at a 55% increase, followed by Asia-Pacific with a 47% increase.
Growth, by Daily Active Users
Along with a surge in downloads, fitness apps also saw a rise in daily active users (DAUs). This is significant because it shows people weren’t just downloading these apps and forgetting about them—they were actually using them.
Globally, DAUs for fitness apps increased by 24% from Q1 to Q2. Here’s a look at the growth in each region:
| Region | DAU Growth |
|---|---|
| India | 84% |
| MENA | 28% |
| Europe | 11% |
| Asia-Pacific | 24% |
| Rest of the World | 24% |
| Americas | 8% |
As with downloads, India saw the largest increase in DAUs with an 84% increase, or 12 million new users. MENA saw the second-highest growth (which also aligns with downloads) at 28%.
In contrast, the Americas saw the smallest increase at just 8%—but this also may be a function of having more users to start with. Despite the lower growth rate than other regions, those who did adopt fitness apps in the Americas seemed to enjoy them, particularly in the United States.
According to a mid-year survey by OnePoll, 74% of Americans used at least one fitness app during quarantine, and 60% enjoyed their home workouts so much, they now plan on canceling their gym membership for good.
Top Grossing Health & Fitness Apps in Q2 2020
Which companies have been capitalizing on this trend? Here’s a look at the top-grossing health and fitness apps in Q2 2020, using data from Sensor Tower:
April was focused on mindfulness and meditation more than active workouts. Calm, an app for sleep, meditation, and relaxation, was the highest-grossing app at $8.5 million. Another popular mindfulness app came in second place—Headspace grossed $5.5 million. MyFitnessPal, used for tracking your diet and exercise, ranked third.
In May, meditation remained a primary focus. Calm grossed $7.7 million and kept its top spot as the highest-grossing health and fitness app, while MyFitnessPal ranked second with more than $6.5 million in gross revenue. Strava, an app with built-in GPS that tracks your workouts, came in at third place.
By June, people had shifted their focus to diet tracking and active workouts. MyFitnessPal took first place, grossing $6.7 million. Calm and Headspace came second and third, respectively.
Is Home Fitness Here to Stay?
During lockdown, gyms and fitness studios were left with no other choice than to increase their digital presence. Many started offering virtual classes, allowing members to access services from the comfort of their own homes.
Lockdown also inspired people to improve their home gyms and invest in home fitness equipment. Exercise equipment company Peloton has surged in popularity this year—it’s set to double its sales in 2020, with an estimated $1.8 billion in revenue by the end of the year.
With gyms online and fancy new equipment at home, will people maintain their lockdown workout routines even after the pandemic ends?
Misc
10 Travel Destinations for Post-Pandemic Life
Excited to get back to travelling the world? This infographic highlights the 10 most popular tourist destinations.
10 Travel Destinations for Post-Pandemic Life
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization formally classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. The resulting travel bans decimated the tourism industry, and international air travel initially fell by as much as 98%.
Almost two years later, travel is finally back on the table, though there are many restrictions to consider. Regardless, a survey conducted in September 2021 found that, as things revert to normalcy, 82% of Americans are looking forward to international travel more than anything else.
To give inspiration for your next vacation (whenever that may be), this infographic lists the 10 most visited countries in 2019, as well as three of their top attractions according to Google Maps.
Bon Voyage
Here were the 10 most popular travel destinations in 2019, measured by their number of international arrivals.
| Country | Number of international arrivals in 2019 (millions) |
|---|---|
| 🇫🇷 France* | 90.0 |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | 83.5 |
| 🇺🇸 U.S. | 79.3 |
| 🇨🇳 China | 65.7 |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | 64.5 |
| 🇹🇷 Turkey | 51.2 |
| 🇲🇽 Mexico | 45.0 |
| 🇹🇭 Thailand | 39.8 |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | 39.6 |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 39.4 |
*Estimate | Source: World Bank
France was the most popular travel destination by a significant margin, and it’s easy to see why. The country is home to many of the world’s most renowned sights, including the Arc de Triomphe and Louvre Museum.
The Arc de Triomphe was built in the early 1800s, and honors those who died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. In 1944, Allied soldiers marched through the monument after Paris was liberated from the Nazis.
The Louvre Museum, on the other hand, is often recognized by its giant glass pyramid. The museum houses over 480,000 works of art, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
Art isn’t the only thing that France has to offer. The country has a reputation for culinary excellence, and is home to 632 Michelin-starred restaurants, the most out of any country. Japan comes in at second, with 413.
While You’re There…
After seeing the sights in Paris, you may want to consider a visit to Spain. The country is the southern neighbor of France and is known for its beautiful villages and beaches.
One of its most impressive sights is the Sagrada Familia, a massive 440,000 square feet church which began construction in 1882, and is still being worked on today (139 years in the making). The video below shows the structure’s striking evolution.
At a height of 172 meters, the Sagrada Familia is approximately 52 stories tall.
Another popular spot is Ibiza, an island off the coast of Spain that is famous for its robust nightlife scene. The island is frequently mentioned in pop culture—Netflix released an adventure/romance movie titled Ibiza in 2018, and the remix of Mike Posner’s song I Took a Pill in Ibiza has over 1.4 billion views on YouTube.
Beaches Galore
If you’re looking for something outside of Europe, consider Mexico or Thailand, which are the 7th and 8th most popular travel destinations. Both offer hot weather and an abundance of white sand beaches.
If you need even more convincing, check out these links:
- The 13 Best Beaches in Mexico
- The Best Resorts in Mexico: 2021 Reader’s Choice
- The Best Night Markets in Bangkok, Thailand
- The Best Rooftop Bars in Bangkok
Expect Turbulence
Under normal circumstances, hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year by international tourists. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTCC), this spending accounted for an impressive 10.4% of global GDP in 2019.
Travel restrictions introduced in 2020 dealt a serious blow to the industry, reducing its share of global GDP to 5.5%, and wiping out an estimated 62 million jobs. While the WTCC believes these jobs could return by 2022, the emerging Omicron variant has already prompted many countries to tighten restrictions once again.
To avoid headaches in the future, make sure you fully understand the rules and restrictions of where you’re heading.
Misc
Which Values Children Should Be Encouraged to Learn, By Country
Which qualities do people think are most important for children to learn? The answer differs from country to country.
Creator Program
Many of the values we prioritize as adults were instilled in us during our childhood days.
They’re called our formative years for a reason—from when we’re born up until we’re about eight years old, our brains are easily molded and remain highly sensitive to external influences and environments. But depending on where you grew up, you may have been exposed to different values during your childhood compared to someone from another place.
These visualizations by Anders Sundell illustrate the most important values people think children should learn at home, across more than 80 different countries.
Methodology
Sundell used data from the World Values Survey, an international survey that interviews hundreds of thousands of participants from across the globe. Respondents were asked to pick up to five qualities they believe are the most desirable for children to have:
- Good manners
- Independence
- Hard work
- Feeling of responsibility
- Imagination
- Tolerance and respect for other people
- Thrift, saving money
- Determination and perseverance
- Religious faith
- Unselfishness
- Obedience
Sundell took the survey data and calculated the proportion of people in each country that selected each quality. From there, he took the top qualities and created three separate plot graphs to show the contrast between them.
Let’s look at the importance that countries placed on different values, including (1) independence and obedience, (2) unselfishness and religious faith, and (3) hard work and imagination.
1. Independence vs Obedience
Nordic countries value independence greatly, and find obedience to be a less important quality to instill in children.
View the full-size infographic
Other available data also supports that adults in Nordic countries value independence. According to Eurostat, the most common age to leave home in Sweden is between 17 and 18—nearly a decade sooner than the average age across the EU (26 years old).
Denmark’s average age to leave home is also below the European average, at 21 years old.
On the other end of the spectrum, countries like Iraq and Egypt believe obedience is much more important for children to learn.
2. Unselfishness vs Religious Faith
Bangladesh, Egypt, and Jordan all place a strong emphasis on faith, and fall on the far right of this graph.
View the full-size infographic
Islam is a strong influence in all three of these countries. In Bangladesh and Jordan, it’s the official state religion. And while Egypt is a secular country, a majority of citizens identify as Muslim—about 90% of the population.
Interestingly, places like the U.S. and Hong Kong fall right in the between, placing relatively equal importance on religion and unselfishness.
3. Hard Work vs Imagination
Left-leaning Nordic countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland think imagination is more important for children to learn than hard work.
View the full-size infographic
Interestingly, Japan also scored high for imagination, seeing it was a more important value to teach children than hard work. This is despite the fact that the country has an international reputation for being a hardworking country, where even taking an extended vacation can be frowned upon. Then again, Japan has a reputation for producing wildly creative works of art that are popular internationally (anime, for instance).
As expected, countries and cultures contain multitudes, and can often seem paradoxical and complex to those who try to codify them.
What qualities do you think are most important, and what countries surprised you with their placements?
-
Misc1 week agoFrom Greek to Latin: Visualizing the Evolution of the Alphabet
-
Best of3 weeks agoOur Top 21 Visualizations of 2021
-
Markets2 weeks agoPrediction Consensus: What the Experts See Coming in 2022
-
Technology2 weeks agoCompanies Gone Public in 2021: Visualizing IPO Valuations
-
Technology2 days agoThe 20 Internet Giants That Rule the Web
-
Misc3 weeks agoMapped: Top Trending Searches of 2021 in Every U.S. State
-
Green3 weeks agoMapped: 30 Years of Deforestation and Forest Growth, by Country
-
Markets2 weeks agoHow Every Asset Class, Currency, and S&P 500 Sector Performed in 2021