30 Interesting Pharmacy Statistics and Trends
An increasing number of pharmacists work in the pharmacy industry in the UK. There are a number of reasons why this happening.
It might be that the number of prescriptions is increasing, the raising salary of a pharmacist year on year or the fact that the number of pharmacies opening in the UK is also increasing.
If you are wondering whether it's time to invest in pharmacy or start working on it, the following statistics and trends might convince you that this is the right thing to do this year.
Market size and value:
- The UK's pharmacy market is valued at around £40.7 billion as of 2020.
- The European pharmacy market is valued at around $296 billion.
- Germany has the largest pharmaceutical market in Europe, valued at around €49 billion.
- The global online pharmacy market is growing rapidly, with revenues projected to reach $182.11 billion by 2027.
- European pharmaceutical online marketing is valued at $5.88 billion in 2023.
Number of pharmacies and pharmacies by type:
- The number of pharmacies in the UK has been steadily increasing, with over 11,500 in total as of 2021.
- In the UK, the majority of pharmacies are independent, with around 6,000 independent pharmacies as of 2021.
- The number of distance-selling pharmacies in England is around 375 in 2021.
- Top 6 online pharmacies in the UK: Pharmacy2U, Boots, Lloyds Pharmacy, Superdrug, Well Pharmacy and Rowlands Pharmacy.
- Pharmacy2u.co.uk revenue in 2021 was $184 million, Lloyds pharmacy revenue $125 million, chemist-4-u revenue $41 million.
- The number of closing pharmacies in the UK has been decreasing in recent years, with around 418 closures in 2021-2022, a decrease compared to the year 2020-2021 (451 closures).
- The number of pharmacies in Europe has been steadily increasing, with over 97,000 in total as of 2021.
- In Europe, the number of online pharmacies is growing, with around 97,000 as of 2016.
Prescription trends:
- The number of UK prescriptions dispensed annually is 1.04 billion as of 2022
- In the UK, in the year 2021-2022 pharmacies dispensed over 1 billion prescriptions
| Year | UK Number of prescriptions |
|---|---|
| 2021-2022 | 1,043 |
| 2020-2021 | 1,016 |
| 2019-2020 | 1,035 |
| 2018-2019 | 1,015 |
| 2017-2018 | 1,013 |
| 2016-2017 | 1,015 |
- The number of items dispensed per prescription has decreased in recent years, with an average of around 8.
- The most common prescription items are cardiovascular drugs, pain management drugs, and central nervous system drugs as of 2021.
- In 2021, UK pharmacies dispensed 331,888,437 cardiovascular system prescriptions
- The number of prescriptions for over-the-counter drugs has been increasing, with over 300 million.
- The number of prescriptions for generic drugs has been increasing by 42.6% from 2004 to 2019, with over 1 million per 100,000 people.
- The number of prescription items dispensed in the community was 1.1 billion in 2021, a 1.90% decrease from 1.13 in 2019/2020.
England number of prescriptions by drug type in 2021:
| Medication class | Number of prescriptions |
|---|---|
| Cardiovascular system | 331,888,437 |
| Central Nervous system | 222,346,104 |
| Endocrine systems | 117,676,038 |
| Gastro-intestinal systems | 105,872,334 |
| Respiratory systems | 73,008,899 |
| Nutrition and blood | 61,646,931 |
| Infections | 35,586,934 |
| Appliances | 32,439,436 |
| Obstetrics, gynaecology & urinary-tract disorders | 31,273,343 |
Employment and workforce
- The number of pharmacists in the UK has been increasing, with over 60,000 as of 2022.
| Date | All | England | Scotland | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 May 2022 | 61,140 | 51,453 | 5,285 | 2,673 |
| 31 May 2021 | 57,795 | 48,444 | 5,098 | 2,575 |
| 31 May 2020 | 57,655 | 48,315 | 4,987 | 2,594 |
| 31 May 2019 | 56,250 | 46,938 | 4,894 | 2,536 |
| 31 May 2018 | 55,287 | 45,849 | 4,829 | 2,517 |
| 31 May 2017 | 53,991 | 44,609 | 4,729 | 2,480 |
| 31 May 2016 | 52,055 | 42,846 | 4,611 | 2,399 |
| 31 May 2015 | 50,266 | 41,168 | 4,493 | 2,334 |
- The average salary for a pharmacist in the UK is around £55,525 per year as of 2022.
- According to Reed.co.uk, there are 451 pharmacy job openings - and growing- as of May 2023.
Prescription dispensing trends in 2021:
- In the UK, the number of prescriptions dispensed annually by community pharmacies is over 800 million.
- By hospital pharmacies is over 200 million.
- By mail-order pharmacies is over 10 million.
- By online pharmacies is over 5 million.
- By retail pharmacies is over 900 million.
- By supermarkets is over 100 million.
We hope that’s helped – and if you want to nominate us to be your pharmacy, we’ll dispense and deliver your prescriptions to you, to make things simple. How amazing is that?