New | China’s cosmetic surgery market to explode in the next few years, analysts say

China will become the world’s third largest cosmetic surgery market by 2019, with its market size estimated to double to 800 billion yuan from its current level due to people’s growing wealth, peer pressure deriving from social media platforms, and the influence of Korean pop culture, according to analysts.

“The pursuit of physical beauty has become big business in China,” Yumeng Zhang and Zhijie Zhao, analysts for HSBC, said in a recent research note.

In 2014, China’s nascent cosmetic surgery industry was valued at 400 billion yuan, with more than 7 million people, most of whom are young women, having cosmetic surgery, according to the China Association of Plastics and Aesthetics (CAPA).

The industry group estimated China’s cosmetic surgery industry to double to 800 billion by 2019, making it the third largest market in the world.

“It is not uncommon for young women to approach a plastic surgeon and ask to be transformed for things like deep double-eyelids and a V-line face. But this is no yuppie trend – more 30 and 40-somethings want to look good too,” said HSBC.

What’s driving the demand in China’s cosmetic surgery market?