Across the globe, people are sending a clear and consistent message to their leaders: the economy matters not just as a set of growth figures, but as a lived experience affecting daily life, wellbeing, and health.
Gallup’s latest global research, covering 107 countries, highlights that the economy is the most frequently cited national problem worldwide. But there’s a deeper story in the data: people aren’t just evaluating GDP growth or stock market performance. They’re judging whether they can afford the basics, find meaningful work, and live a stable life.
Work-related concerns rank just behind the economy, encompassing more than unemployment. People are concerned about job quality, wages, and the availability of good jobs even in countries where labor markets appear strong on paper.
This has profound implications for public health. Economic stress — from job insecurity, insufficient wages, or rising living costs — directly affects mental health, chronic disease, and social wellbeing. Governments cannot treat health and economy as separate challenges. The cost of poor health is now a fiscal problem: rising healthcare expenditure, lost productivity, and social safety net pressures all flow from economic insecurity. In effect, a struggling economy is also a struggling public health system.
Healthcare itself is at a crossroads. Systems designed for the 20th century are struggling to meet 21st-century demands. Chronic disease, ageing populations, climate-driven health challenges, and workforce shortages are converging to create an unprecedented crisis. Today, 97% of healthcare spending is focused on treating illness rather than preventing it. The consequences are clear: long waiting lists, overburdened staff, inequitable access, and rising costs. Millions of people globally lack even basic healthcare, while chronic conditions and mental health issues continue to escalate.
The economic impact is staggering. Lost productivity from ill health costs the UK around £150bn per year, with a further £70bn in government expenditure on tax losses, benefits, and healthcare costs. COVID-19 highlighted an indisputable truth: better health strengthens economies. Health is wealth.
Yet this crisis presents an enormous opportunity. By investing in prevention, early intervention, and community-led care models, we can improve patient outcomes, build resilient health systems, and create millions of meaningful jobs all while generating sustainable economic growth. Emerging technologies including AI diagnostics, genomics, digital health platforms, and mobile health tools combined with innovative financing models such as Social Impact Bonds and blended capital, make scalable, prevention-led transformation possible.
Platforms like the WHIS and the Global Social Prescribing Alliance (GSPA) demonstrate how non-clinical, community-based interventions can be deployed at scale. From workforce development to digital tools, social prescribing shows that prevention can be systematic, measurable, and economically sustainable.
“We cannot continue spending almost all our resources treating illness while underinvesting in what keeps people well. Prevention is the foundation of sustainable health systems, resilient economies, and thriving communities. Scaling community-led, digitally enabled, and workforce-supported prevention models globally is both our responsibility and our greatest opportunity.” — Gareth Presch, CEO, World Health Innovation Summit & CEO, Global Social Prescribing Alliance
In the United States, this intersection shows a distinct pattern. While the economy remains a central concern, politics and government are the most frequently cited national problems highlighting how economic pressures, institutional trust, and public wellbeing are intertwined in higher-income countries.
The message is clear: governments must address health not only as a moral or social priority but as a core economic strategy. Investing in wellbeing, creating secure and meaningful work, and tackling inequality are not just health policies they are fiscal imperatives. When people can afford daily life, access good work, and live in communities that support their health, the economy benefits, and vice versa.
Gallup’s report, The World’s Most Important Problem: What Leaders Need to Hear in 2026, provides a global perspective on these urgent challenges. Leaders who understand that economic and health outcomes are inseparable will be better positioned to foster thriving, resilient societies.
Explore the full research here: Gallup Report
Download the full prospectus: “The Future of Healthcare: Prevention, Investment & System Transformation”