Number of parapharmacies in Italy 2007-2022
OTC market
Between 2017 and 2018, health supplements were the products generating the highest turnover among OTC products. Also, health supplements experienced the fastest growth between 2017 and 2018, as the revenues that these products generated had a year-on-year growth of 5.2 percent. Regarding the annual growth of new OTC products, personal care was the best-performing segment.
Expenditure on OTC pharmaceuticals
The share of private retail pharmaceutical expenditure spent on OTC products increased from 11 percent in 2007 to 13.6 percent in 2021. Pertaining to the regional spending on OTC, the Autonomous Provinces of Bolzano and Trento allocated the greatest share of the private pharmaceutical product expenditure on OTC. By contrast, Sicily and Basilicata were the regions where people spent the lowest percentage of pharmaceutical expenditure on OTC.