Aromatherapy Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Rising public healthcare expenditure on mental health and stress reduction:  Government spending on mental health is directly supporting the aromatherapy market adoption as a low-cost adjunct intervention. According to the World Health Organization in June 2025, the government globally allocates an average of 2% of the national health budgets to mental health, with policy emphasis shifting toward preventive and supportive therapies. Further, aromatherapy is increasingly deployed in publicly funded outpatient clinics, correctional health systems, and community wellness centers as part of stress mitigation and anxiety reduction initiatives. In the UK, the NHS long-term plan explicitly supports non-pharmacological therapies for mental well-being, indirectly enabling aromatherapy use in public hospitals and hospice settings.
• Demographic shifts and healthcare spending in aging populations: Aging global populations, mainly in developed economies such as Japan and Europe, drive the demand for supportive non-invasive care options. The national healthcare budgets are increasingly strained by age-related chronic conditions, prompting interest in cost-effective complementary therapies. Aromatherapy market is positioned for growth in home care and geriatric care settings for pain, agitation, and sleep support. The NLM study in December 2024 conducted research on the effects of sleep quality in older adults, and the results show that aromatherapy enhances sleep quality, with single-use lavender non-inhalation aromatherapy lasting for less than 4 weeks being effective. Further, the Japanese government, facing a super-aged society, has policies integrating preventive wellness to reduce healthcare costs, creating a formal environment for product integration in care facilities.

Summary of Aromatherapy Effects on Elderly Participants

Source: NLM December 2024

• Digital health infrastructure and telemedicine expansion: The public investment in digital health infrastructure, a trend solidified during the pandemic, creates new channels for aromatherapy market education and distribution. As telemedicine and wellness apps become more prevalent, they integrate recommendations for complementary practices such as aromatherapy. Government reports such as those from the U.S. The Health Resources and Services Administration's telehealth expansion highlights this shift. This digitally enabled ecosystem enables the aromatherapy brands to directly reach consumers with educational content and product recommendations within a health-focused context. This integration boosts a seamless, evidence-based product discovery path for health-conscious consumers.

Challenges

• Supply chain volatility and sourcing integrity: Securing consistent high-quality botanical raw material is a primary challenge. Climate change, geopolitical instability, and crop-specific diseases cause severe price and supply volatility. For instance, the sandalwood is endangered and highly regulated, requiring CITES certification. Companies such as doTERRA address this by establishing long-term partnerships with growers worldwide to ensure an ethical and stable supply. They also reduce the risk of single-origin dependency that can cripple new entrants lacking such networks.
• High barrier of consumer trust and greenwashing claims: With rising demand for natural products, consumers are increasingly skeptical of greenwashing, exaggerated eco-friendly, or purity claims. Building trust requires transparent, verifiable sourcing and testing. Top companies provide specific test results online. Further, many consumers distrust natural product claims without third-party certification, forcing new entrants to invest in costly certification from day one.