Germany

Germany: The biggest European OTC and Rx market 

Germany is the strongest OTC and Rx market in Europe and the evolution of its demographics is a source of opportunities if you are looking to expand your business to the European region. 

A strong coun­try in West­ern Europe with a rich his­tory, Ger­many is home to the old­est uni­ver­sal health­care sys­tem, dat­ing back to social legislation from the Bis­marck Repub­lic. In the last 20 years, life expectancy has increased by four years for women and five years for men, reach­ing an aver­age of 80.

Since reunification in 1990, Ger­many has expended con­sid­er­able funds to harmonize pro­duc­tiv­ity and wages across the coun­try, and pros­per­ity has increased on the basis of Ger­man exports, par­tic­u­larly machin­ery, vehi­cles, met­als, chem­i­cals and other goods nec­es­sary in Emerg­ing Mar­kets.

Accord­ing to the World Health Organ­i­za­tion (WHO), Germany’s dis­ease profile reflects its high-income sta­tus: heart dis­ease and stroke are the most com­mon causes of death, fol­lowed by can­cer, par­tic­u­larly of the lung and colon. The gen­eral can­cer mor­tal­ity rate is lower than the EU aver­age, but it is slightly higher for breast can­cer. Around 28% of the population smokes (Macrotrend.net and Gbe-bud), a relatively high rate. Just under one in four adults in Germany are obese. As a result, Germans live on average 2.6 years less due to being overweight. Being overweight accounts for 10.7% of health expenditure. At a rate of 15,3%, the rate of diabetes in the country places Germany first in Europe.