Use of Yoga and Meditation Becoming More Popular in U.S.

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For Immediate Release: November 8, 2018

Contact: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, Office of Communication (301) 458-4800
E-mail: paoquery@cdc.gov

Use of Yoga, Meditation, and Chiropractors Among U.S. Children Aged 4–17 Years. Data Brief No. 324

Use of Yoga, Meditation, and Chiropractors Among U.S. Adults Aged 18 and Over. Data Brief No. 325

The use of yoga and meditation has increased in the U.S., according to two new reports released by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

The first report “Use of Yoga, Meditation, and Chiropractors Among U.S. Adults Aged 18 and Older” examines changes from 2012 to 2017 in the percentage of U.S. adults that used yoga, meditation and chiropractors in the past 12 months. Of the three complementary health approached presented, yoga was the most commonly among U.S. adults in 2012 (9.5%) and 2017 (14.3%). The use of meditation increased more than threefold from 4.1% in 2012 to 14.2% in 2017.

The second report to be released on Thursday, “Use of Yoga, Meditation and Chiropractors Among U.S. Children Aged 4–17 Years,” reveals that U.S. children aged 4-17 years who used yoga in the past 12 months increased significantly from 3.1% in 2012 to 8.4% in 2017. Further examination of 2017 data showed that girls were more likely than boys to have used yoga in the past 12 months (11.3% vs. 5.6%).

Other findings documented in the reports:

  • In 2017, the use of yoga among U.S. adults aged 18-44 (17.9%) was more than twice that of adults 65 years and older (6.7%).
  • In 2017, non-Hispanic white adults were more likely to use yoga (17.1%) and see a chiropractor (12.7%) in the past 12 months compared with Hispanic (8% and 6.6%, respectively) and non-Hispanic black (9.3% and 5.5%, respectively) adults.
  • The use of yoga, meditation and chiropractors saw a significant increase from 2012 to 2017, among U.S. adults.
  • Use of meditation increased significantly for U.S. children from 0.6% in 2012 to 5.4% in 2017.
  • Older U.S. children aged 12-17 were more likely to have used meditation (6.5%) and a chiropractor (5.1%) than younger children aged 4-11 (4.7% and 2.1% respectively) in 2017.
  • There was no significant difference in the use of a chiropractor for children from 2012 to 2017.

The two reports, “Use of Yoga, Meditation, and Chiropractors Among U.S. Adults Aged 18 and Older” and “Use of Yoga, Meditation and Chiropractors Among U.S. Children Aged 4–17 Years” are available on the NCHS web site at www.cdc.gov/nchs.