More than one-third of Russians are active pharmacy consumers; and the main problem for them is high prices. Most of Russians see no difference between medicine produced in Russia and abroad.
MOSCOW, September 26, 2013. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning the way how Russians assess the situation in the pharmaceutical market.
The share of Russians consuming medicines has not changed over recent years: more than 81% of Russians in a varying degree buy pharmaceuticals (in 2009 – 84%). At the same time, more than one-third of Russians (38%) often or constantly go to drugstores to buy medicine.
Fourteen percent of Russians can purchase medicine at discount; but almost half of respondents (6%) pay full price. This is due to the common point of view according to which Russians believe that the discount medicine has low effectiveness (39%). Russians also say that the process of purchasing discount medicine is too complicated (27%; and this category medicine is often out of stock (26%).
Generally, most of Russians are satisfied with the situation in the pharmaceutical market in their community (56%). compared with the previous years, the situation is assessed more positively (in 2009 the share of Russians who were satisfied with the situation was only 27). Those who are not satisfied with the situation (34%) complain about high prices for medicine (70%). Every fifth respondent (19%) often cannot afford a medicine due to high price. Rarer respondents complain that a desired medicine is out of stock (11% often complain about that). Only few Russians are often deceived by misleading advertising (7%) or bought fake medicines (5%).
Ten years ago Russian favored Russian medicine due to their quality (44%). Today respondents see no difference between Russian and foreign pharmaceuticals in terms of quality (41%).
The VCIOM opinion polls were conducted on September 17-18, 2013. 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 communities in 42 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
How often do you buy medicine? (closed-ended question, one answer) | |||
2005 | 2009 | 2013 | |
Constantly | 12 | 13 | 11 |
Quite often | 24 | 32 | 27 |
Seldom, from time to time | 43 | 39 | 43 |
Almost never | 21 | 15 | 19 |
Hard to tell | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Do you have a discount for buying medicine; if yes; do you use it, or not? | ||
March 2005 | August 2013 | |
Yes, I have a discount, and I buy discount medicine | 6 | 8 |
I have a discount, but I often pay full price | 15 | 6 |
I have no discount | 77 | 85 |
Hard to tell | 1 | 1 |
Why do you pay full price, if you have discount? (closed-ended question, not more than two answers, % of those who pay full price and have discount at the same time) | |
I do not have a prescription to buy discount medicines | 15 |
You buy less effective and worse medicines at discount | 39 |
No discount medicine in stock | 26 |
The process of purchasing the discount medicine is complicated; it is easier for me to pay full price | 27 |
Other | 7 |
Hard to tell | 6 |
Are you generally satisfied with the situation regarding medicines in your city/ community, or not? (closed-ended question, one answer) | |||
March 2005 | September 2009 | August 2013 | |
Absolutely, yes | 15 | 4 | 12 |
Rather yes | 38 | 23 | 44 |
Rather no | 26 | 33 | 22 |
Definitely no | 12 | 31 | 12 |
Hard to tell | 9 | 9 | 9 |
If you are not satisfied with the situation regarding medicines in your city/community, can you tell us why? | |
High prices, too expensive medicines | 70 |
Many fake medicines | 7 |
Poor quality | 3 |
No medicine required | 13 |
No drugstore | 4 |
Prescription discount medicines are ineffective | 3 |
It is hard to get prescription | 2 |
Other | 0 |
Hard to tell | 8 |
Have you encountered the following situations over the recent year? If yes, how often? | ||||
I could not purchase the desired medicine due to high price | I purchased a fake medicine | I was deceived by a misleading advertising | I could not find the desired medicine in drugstores | |
Often | 19 | 5 | 7 | 11 |
One or two times, but not too often | 27 | 15 | 15 | 28 |
Never | 52 | 69 | 71 | 58 |
Hard to tell | 2 | 10 | 7 | 2 |
In your opinion, what medicine is better – domestic or foreign? (closed-ended question, one answer) | ||
August 2000 | August 2013 | |
Domestic | 44 | 26 |
Foreign | 26 | 24 |
Both are equal | 23 | 41 |
Hard to tell | 8 | 9 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!