Cosmetic procedures in the USUber + Lyft combined U.S. rides
Americans summoning strangers to drive them places and Americans paying doctors to subtly rearrange their faces have, since 2017, risen together at a correlation of 0.979. This is a statistic that sounds like a Tom Wolfe book from the future, and it probably is. One either gets in the car or has the work done, or โ increasingly โ both in the same afternoon.
Uber and Lyft rides grew from about 2.6 billion in 2017 to roughly 6 billion by 2022 as post-pandemic mobility rebounded and rideshare pricing normalized. US cosmetic procedures climbed from around 17 million to over 26 million in the same window, driven by the infamous 'Zoom effect' โ extended video calls during lockdown producing an unprecedented wave of self-evaluation โ and by the mainstreaming of non-surgical injectables among younger demographics. Both trends are the same urban, affluent, digitally-mediated lifestyle finding new outlets for discretionary spending. The ride and the filler are paid for out of the same wallet.
Five years of more movement and more maintenance is a portrait of a consumer economy that will, given the option, optimize everything it can see. The face in the rear-view mirror is now on a different subscription. Everything in between is just logistics.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like โCosmetic procedures in the USโ vs โUber + Lyft combined U.S. ridesโ don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.