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expected next September. According to the 2009
survey:
● In 2009, the Greek households' average
monthly expenditure on pharmaceutical prod-
ucts stood at 25.83 euros per family.
● Based on the above, average annual family
expenditure stood at 310 euros.
● Given that ELSTAT estimates the number of
Greek households to 4.12 million, total annual
private expenditure is set at 1.28 billion euros.
The same survey shows that the households'
average monthly health expenditure stood at
134.27 euros in 2009. Therefore, private pharma-
ceutical expenditure (25.83 euros) accounts for
19.3% of total private health expenses.
Family expenditure for the purchase of pharma-
ceuticals represents 1.25% of the “housewife's
basket”, whose total value is estimated at
2,065.11 euros. It should be noted, though, that
the survey detected major differences in pharma-
ceutical purchase patterns between the country's
urban and rural areas, with the latter spending
more on medicines. Thus:
● In urban areas, the average monthly expendi-
ture on pharmaceutical products amounts to
24.05 euros per household, representing
1.11% of the “urban housewife's basket”
(2,177.05 euros).
● In rural areas, the “housewife's basket” is
much smaller, barely reaching 1,502.96 euros.
However, the average amount spent each
month on pharmaceuticals stands at 34.78
euros, 45% higher than the corresponding
amount spent in urban areas, and accounting
for 2.31% of the “rural housewife's basket”.
The roots of this phenomenon should be traced to
the fact that rural villages and towns have much
more aged populations than major urban centres.
In hundreds of Greek, mainly mountain villages,
more than 70% of the population are pensioners,
who, owing to their age, have increased pharma-
ceutical needs.
The differences become even more pronounced
when the age of the household head is taken into
account. Thus, younger households, whose head
is less than 24 years old, spend only 6.74 euros
per month for the purchase of pharmaceutical
Trade with Greece
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According to estimates,
the austerity measures led
to the reduction of public
pharmaceutical expendi-
ture by almost 1 billion
euros in 2011, while the
Memorandum provides for
a further reduction by 2
billion euros in 2012-2013.