Medicine supply
Association: Number of pharmacies at lowest level since 1978
Having a pharmacy nearby is important to many people. But the network of locations is becoming thinner: the number of pharmacies has been falling for years – now to a new low. There are many reasons for this.
The number of pharmacies in Germany has fallen to its lowest level in almost 50 years. According to the ABDA pharmacists’ association, there were 17,041 pharmacies at the end of 2024 – 530 stores or three percent fewer than a year earlier. This is the lowest number of pharmacies in Germany since 1978. “At that time there were a total of 16,857 pharmacies in East and West Germany.”
The supply is increasingly dwindling, said ABDA President Gabriele Regina Overwiening. “People have to travel longer distances to the nearest pharmacy and forego the usual care they were used to.”
Germany below EU average
The decline has accelerated, warned the Federal Association of German Pharmacists Associations (ABDA). On balance, 393 pharmacies would have closed in 2022, and 497 establishments in 2023.
The trend is also downwards when it comes to new openings: According to the information, 68 pharmacies were opened in Germany in 2022, 62 in 2023 and only 48 in 2024. In terms of pharmacy density, the Federal Republic of Germany, with 20 pharmacies per 100,000 inhabitants, is below the EU average of 32 .
Overwiening criticized that it was simply no longer worthwhile for young pharmacists to have their own business. “It has been known in politics for years that pharmacies are chronically underfunded.” The supply of medicines must be strengthened, she warned a few weeks before the federal election.
Years of downward trend
The number of pharmacies in Germany has been falling for years. The reasons include cost pressure and problems finding a successor when pharmacy owners retire. ABDA complains that due to a lack of earning opportunities, qualified people are drawn to industry or hospital pharmacies. The federal association has also been defending itself for a long time against competition from foreign mail-order pharmacies that advertise with the new e-prescription.
dpa
Source: Stern
