AXA Global Healthcare's Longevity Mindset Study offers a unique, data-led look at how senior, internationally mobile professionals are approaching their health today. For advisers and organisations working with this group, it’s an indication for how to strategise.
A new definition of longevity
Ask someone what it means to live a long life, and they’ll likely describe a high milestone age. However, longevity is no longer the sole objective. Maximising healthspan has become the definitive goal, particularly for high-net worth professionals.
To capture this, AXA Global Healthcare's Longevity Mindset Study surveyed 800 professionals in Germany, France and the UK — all senior manager level or above, all in the top 10% of earners in their market, and all travelling internationally at least once a year.
What the study finds is a population, whose habits and priorities align with the ultra-wealthy, already acting on the belief that health is something to actively manage, not just treat when it fails. They spend on areas including preventative diagnostics, metabolic health programmes, and lifestyle optimisation.
As longevity investing accelerates among high earners globally, this study shows what that actually looks like, and what it means for anyone serious about protecting their healthy years.
What senior professionals are actually spending
The numbers are substantial. In 2026, between 85% and 94% of respondents across the three markets are already actively investing in longevity, with the average annual spend currently standing at £9,793 in the UK, €11,100 in France and €15,300 in Germany.
The data highlights that this behaviour is becoming the norm, rather than the outlier, with high earners.
Care without borders
Given that every respondent in the study travels internationally at least once annually, it's perhaps unsurprising that their approach to longevity doesn't stop at home either. For this group, the reasons are practical. They want faster access to specialists and to seek treatment that’s not yet available at home.
Xavier Lestrade, Managing Director, AXA Health International, has described what the findings capture:
“What this research shows is a genuine change in mindset among senior, internationally mobile professionals. Health is no longer something they think about only when it goes wrong. It's something they're actively investing in, on an ongoing basis, often across more than one country. That's a meaningful shift and one that anyone working with global talent should find useful to understand."
What this means for intermediaries and companies
This study's value lies in what it reveals about priorities. A client and employee whose health investment leans towards prevention and monitoring, rather than reactive treatment, calls for different conversations and cover, giving useful ground for shaping corporate benefits offering and advising senior, high-earning clients.
The expectations shift for each market, too. UK respondents anticipate gaining 8.3 additional healthy years from their investment, against 7.1 in France and 6.7 in Germany, despite Germany recording the highest spend.
Client priorities aren't uniform either. Mental health, sleep optimisation and stress management is the second most-cited investment area in the UK, at 36%, and narrowly so in France at 26%. However, Germany’s secondary investment, at 42%, prioritises longevity-directed medications and supplements, more than double the UK’s figure.
Strategy built for one market may not hold in another.
Cross-border care represents a clear majority preference across all three markets. Over three-quarters of respondents in each country have either already sought longevity care abroad or express openness to doing so: 84% in the UK, 81% in Germany, and 78% in France.
For a population this willing to cross borders for longevity-focused healthcare, this highlights that longevity investment extends beyond routine, in-country treatment toward advanced diagnostics, specialist-led care and emerging therapies, such as regenerative treatments and stem-cell therapies.
Given this demand for cross-border care, international health insurance must expand to cover a full range of services, from diagnostics and consultations to international treatment, while preserving continuity and coordination of care.
A mindset, not a moment
With 2026 trends pointing towards preventative treatment, personalised products and an increasingly mobile global workforce, this study sets a clear message for organisations: senior global professionals are proactively thinking about living healthier for longer.
For anyone whose work touches the health and wellbeing of a global workforce, understanding that mindset is where meaningful strategy begins.
The information in this article is correct at the time of publishing.