In 2025, Poles filled almost the same number of prescriptions as a year earlier, but paid 13.1% more for them. Prescription drug sales reached PLN 33.4bn, while reimbursement from the National Health Fund (NFZ) grew faster than patients’ co-payments — its share of the cost of purchased medicines rose to 45.9%. One category remains the main driver of growth: drugs for the alimentary tract and metabolism.
Prescription drug market grows to PLN 33.4bn. The National Health Fund is covering an increasing share of the bill
The latest data from Statistics Poland, based on the Ministry of Health’s Medical Information System, show a market expanding in value despite an almost unchanged volume. Pharmacies and pharmacy outlets filled 515.6 million prescriptions in 2025 — 2.3 million, or 0.4%, more than a year earlier. Since the number of prescriptions has effectively remained flat, the entire increase in value reflects higher unit prices and a shift in the sales mix towards more expensive therapies.
The bill is rising, and the NFZ is paying more
Of the PLN 33.4bn in sales value, patients paid PLN 18.1bn out of pocket — 10.9% more than in 2024. Reimbursement from the National Health Fund reached PLN 15.3bn and rose by 15.8%, clearly faster than private co-payments. This extends a multi-year trend: between 2022 and 2025, total prescription drug sales increased by 52.8%, but NFZ reimbursement rose by 78.7%, while patient payments increased by only 36.1%. As a result, the share of public funds in financing prescription medicines increased from 39.3% in 2022 to 45.9% in 2025.
Per capita, Poland spent PLN 893 on prescription medicines, PLN 106 more than a year earlier. Of this total, PLN 410 came from NFZ reimbursement and PLN 483 from private co-payments. This means that patients still finance the majority — 54.1% of the value of medicines purchased — although this share is steadily declining.
Metabolic drugs overtake cardiovascular medicines
The most significant market change is taking place in the sales structure. In 2025, medicines used to treat disorders of the alimentary tract and metabolism, including products that help reduce excess weight, accounted for the largest share of total sales value at 24.8%. The category has been advancing steadily: its share stood at 17.5% in 2022, 18.9% in 2023 and 21.4% in 2024, before reaching almost one-quarter of the market in 2025.
Cardiovascular medicines ranked second, with a 17.7% share. Until 2023, this group had led the ranking, but it was overtaken by metabolic medicines in 2024, and the gap between the two categories continues to widen. Drugs for the nervous system ranked third at 12.8%. The only change among the leading groups compared with the previous year was the rise of anti-infective medicines — their share increased from 5.5% to 7.2%, moving them from seventh to fifth place.
Regional picture: Łódzkie leads, Podkarpackie trails
The value of medicine sales per inhabitant differs by more than one-quarter between regions. The highest figure was recorded in the Łódzkie province at PLN 1,005 per person, including PLN 484 in reimbursement. Mazowieckie ranked second at PLN 970 and stood out for the highest private co-payments in the country, at PLN 573 per inhabitant. At the other end of the scale was Podkarpackie, with the lowest sales value at PLN 748 and the lowest reimbursement level at PLN 349. Residents of Warmińsko-Mazurskie paid the least from their own pockets, at PLN 397.
| Province | Sales per capita (PLN) | NFZ reimbursement (PLN) | Patient co-payment (PLN) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Łódzkie | 1,005 | 484 | 521 |
| Mazowieckie | 970 | 397 | 573 |
| Pomorskie | 909 | 416 | 493 |
| Kujawsko-Pomorskie | 906 | 446 | 460 |
| Śląskie | 900 | 428 | 472 |
| Wielkopolskie | 900 | 418 | 482 |
| Dolnośląskie | 886 | 409 | 477 |
| Zachodniopomorskie | 884 | 425 | 459 |
| Świętokrzyskie | 877 | 416 | 461 |
| Małopolskie | 876 | 388 | 488 |
| Lubelskie | 866 | 403 | 463 |
| Podlaskie | 860 | 383 | 477 |
| Lubuskie | 832 | 390 | 442 |
| Opolskie | 815 | 395 | 420 |
| Warmińsko-Mazurskie | 784 | 387 | 397 |
| Podkarpackie | 748 | 349 | 399 |
Łódzkie also led in the number of prescriptions per inhabitant, at 15.8 per year, while Podkarpackie ranked last at 12.5, against a national average of 13.8. Much wider differences emerge at county level — from 3.2 prescriptions per inhabitant in Przemyśl County to 31.1 in Zamość. This is largely the result of the service function of county-level cities: pharmacies in Zamość, Krosno and Tarnów serve patients from surrounding, less urbanised counties, which inflates the local indicator.
Electronic prescriptions accounted for 97.8% of all prescriptions filled — 0.4 percentage points more than a year earlier. Differences between provinces have virtually disappeared, with a spread of just 1.2 percentage points.
The e-prescription system, introduced only in 2020, already covered 94.4% of the market after one year. The digitalisation of prescribing is now, in practice, complete in Poland.
What this means for the market
- The market is growing in value (+13.1%), not in volume (+0.4% prescriptions) — higher prices and the treatment mix, rather than a larger number of patients, are driving growth.
- The financing burden is shifting towards public funds: NFZ reimbursement is growing faster than private co-payments, reaching 45.9% of the total and continuing to rise.
- Metabolic drugs, including medicines for the alimentary tract and weight management, are the fastest-growing segment — rising from 17.5% of the market in 2022 to 24.8% in 2025, overtaking the former leader, cardiovascular medicines.
- The digitalisation of prescriptions is now an established reality at 97.8%, completing an important stage in the modernisation of Poland’s medicine distribution system.
Source: Ministry of Health Medical Information System; Statistics Poland publication “Prescription Drug Sales in 2025” (25 June 2026). Own analysis based on data from the Statistics Poland publication “Prescription Drug Sales in 2025”.
