FASHION AND BEAUTY

Countries with the most cosmetic surgeries

The International Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) released the results of its annual global survey (covering 2021, published on 9 January 2023) on aesthetic/cosmetic procedures, i.e. plastic surgery. 

The new data show a significant increase of 19.3 per cent in procedures performed by plastic surgeons in 2021, with more than 12.8 million surgical procedures and 17.5 million non-surgical procedures performed in total worldwide.

The survey covers both men and women, and shows specific data on individual procedures and their distribution by territory, gender and age.

Freepik
Countries with the most cosmetic surgeries
The International Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) released the results of its annual global survey (covering 2021, published on 9 January 2023) on aesthetic/cosmetic procedures, i.e. plastic surgery.
Freepik
An obvious increase
The new data show a remarkable 19.3 per cent increase in procedures performed by plastic surgeons in 2021, with more than 12.8 million surgical procedures and 17.5 million non-surgical procedures performed worldwide.
Freepik
On the upswing after Covid-19 downturn
Compared to the data collected in 2020, there was an increase of 19.3%. In the year of the pandemic, there was an overall decrease of -1.8% in all procedures and -10.9% in surgical procedures. Specifically, over the last four years, cosmetic procedures increased by 33.3%.
Freepik
The spread of procedures around the world
The USA remains first in the number of cosmetic procedures in 2021 (24.1% of the world total), accounting for 30.4% of all non-surgical procedures and 15.5% of all surgical procedures. In second place is Brazil (8.9%) followed by Japan (5.7%). According to estimates, the United States and Brazil together have the largest number of plastic surgeons, with over 30% of the world total operating in these two nations. Asian countries rank third with China, fourth with Japan and fifth with South Korea. Surgeries are still mostly performed in hospitals (43.5% worldwide) or in offices (35.6%). The countries with the highest percentage of foreign patients are Turkey, Colombia, Mexico and Thailand.
Freepik
The most common procedures
In 2021, liposuction was the procedure performed most often, with more than 1.9 million operations and an increase of 24.8%. Liposuction is now more common than breast augmentation (+3.8%). The five most frequently performed surgical procedures in 2021 remained liposuction, breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty and abdominoplasty. On the other hand, the top five non-surgical procedures are botulinum toxin, hyaluronic acid, hair removal, skin tightening and fat reduction.
Freepik
Breast procedures the most common among women
Breast operations, especially augmentation, remain the most common surgery among women, with a very small increase of +0.5% in the last four years. On the other hand, operations to remove implants have increased by 22.6% (+49.6% in the last four years) and breast lifts by 31.4% in the last year.
Pexels
The other procedures that have increased
Other procedures that have increased in number are, for example, facial and head surgery (+14.8%). For example, the most popular among men remains eyelid surgery. The procedure that has grown the most in recorded time, however, is the thigh lift (+53.1%). Butt lift and buttock augmentation have also increased by 45.7% and 40.5% respectively since 2017. Among men, the other two most frequent procedures are gynaecomastia (up sharply) and liposuction.
Pexels
The age of the interventions
According to the analysis conducted, breast augmentation (53.1% of the total) and rhinoplasty (63.7%) were most popular between the ages of 19 and 34, while botulinum toxin injections were most popular between the ages of 35 and 50 (47.2% of the total).
Pexels
The most common intervention of all
Botox injection remains the most popular non-surgical technique for both men and women, and above all, this statement applies to all age groups, with more than seven million procedures performed by plastic surgeons everywhere. Botox injection also becomes the most common aesthetic procedure for people under 18, surpassing rhinoplasty, which held this record in previous years.
Freepik
How was the survey conducted
Those who took part in the survey had to fill out a questionnaire that focused mainly on the number of surgical and non-surgical procedures performed in 2021, as well as some questions regarding the impact of Covid-19, surgeon demographics and the prevalence of medical tourism. Data from a total of 1003 plastic surgeons were collected for this survey.
Informativa ai sensi della Direttiva 2009/136/CE: questo sito utilizza solo cookie tecnici necessari alla navigazione da parte dell'utente in assenza dei quali il sito non potrebbe funzionare correttamente.