Overall the value of drugs and medicines delivered via international markets expanded by an average 24.2% for all exporting countries since 2017 when drugs and medicines shipments were valued at $343.6 billion.
There was a year-over-year gain of 3.5% from $412.3 billion during 2020.
The top 5 exporters of drugs and medicines are Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, United States of America and France. Collectively, that quintet of major pharmaceutical suppliers accounted for almost half (48.3%) of globally exported drugs and medicines in 2021.
Among continents, European countries sold the highest dollar value worth of exported drugs and medicines during 2021 with shipments from Europe accumulating to $337.5 billion or 79.1% of the global total. In second place were pharmaceutical exporters in Asia at 10.2% while another 9.4% of worldwide drugs and medicine shipments originated from North America.
Tinier percentages came from suppliers of drugs and medicines in Latin America (0.8%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Oceania (0.33%) led by Australia and New Zealand, then Africa (0.27%).
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefixes for drugs and medicines are:
- 3003 for medicaments consisting of two or more mixed constituents (2.1% of global total), and
- 3004 for medicaments consisting of unmixed or other mixed products (97.9%).
Drugs and Medicine Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of drugs and medicines during 2021.
- Germany: US$64.7 billion (15.2% of total drugs and medicines exports)
- Switzerland: $50.3 billion (11.8%)
- Belgium: $33.3 billion (7.8%)
- United States of America: $30.5 billion (7.1%)
- France: $27.4 billion (6.4%)
- Italy: $26.1 billion (6.1%)
- Ireland: $22.7 billion (5.3%)
- Netherlands: $19.7 billion (4.6%)
- United Kingdom: $19.2 billion (4.5%)
- India: $17.5 billion (4.1%)
- Denmark: $16 billion (3.8%)
- Spain: $11.4 billion (2.7%)
- Canada: $8.6 billion (2%)
- Slovenia: $8.5 billion (2%)
- Sweden: $8.1 billion (1.9%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 85.3% of all exported drugs and medicine for 2021.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing exporters of drugs and medicines from 2020 to 2021 were: United States of America (up 23.3%), Slovenia (up 16.7%), Canada (up 12.3%), Belgium (up 7.8%) and Germany (up 6%).
Those countries that posted year-over-year declines were led by Sweden (down -11.4%), Italy (down -4.4%), France (down -3.9%) and Denmark (also down -3.9%).
Countries Generating Greatest Surpluses Trading Drugs and Medicines
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for drugs and medicines during 2021. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s drugs and medicine exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Germany: US$30.5 billion (product surplus up 15.9% from 2020)
- Switzerland: $23 billion (up 4.7%)
- Ireland: $17.5 billion (down -2.8%)
- India: $15.7 billion (down -1%)
- Denmark: $11.4 billion (down -9.9%)
- France: $9.3 billion (down -9.2%)
- Italy: $8.5 billion (down -1.4%)
- Belgium: $7.9 billion (up 50.4%)
- Netherlands: $5.9 billion (down -25.2%)
- Sweden: $4.9 billion (down -18.2%)
- Singapore: $4.7 billion (up 25.3%)
- United Kingdom: $3.6 billion (up 555.9%)
- Slovenia: $2.9 billion (up 45.6%)
- Austria: $2.3 billion (up 7.2%)
- Hungary: $969.6 million (up 46.7%)
Germany and Switzerland are the two top competitors for generating the highest surpluses in the international trade of drugs and medicines. In turn, these positive cashflows confirm both countries’ strong competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Countries Causing Worst Deficits Trading Drugs and Medecines
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for drugs and medicines during 2021. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s drugs and medicine import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$54.8 billion (product deficit down -5.9% from 2020)
- China: -$16.2 billion (down -4.2%)
- Japan: -$13.9 billion (up 14.9%)
- Russian Federation: -$8.7 billion (up 34.2%)
- Australia: -$4.4 billion (up 11.4%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$4.1 billion (up 0.8%)
- South Korea: -$3.9 billion (up 19.2%)
- Brazil: -$3.2 billion (up 18.2%)
- Taiwan: -$2.87 billion (up 7.6%)
- Poland: -$2.87 billion (up 16.6%)
- Egypt: -$2.5 billion (up 41.5%)
- Romania: -$2.4 billion (up 5.2%)
- Mexico: -$2.2 billion (up 10.6%)
- Czech Republic: -$2.1 billion (up 1.9%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$1.9 billion (down -8.3%)
By far, the United States of America incurred the greatest deficit in the international trade of drugs and medicine. In turn, this massive negative cashflow highlights America’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for drugs and medicine-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful consumer demand.
Major Drugs and Medicine Exporting Companies
Below are conglomerates that are leading suppliers satisfying the global demand for pharmaceuticals. Shown within parenthesis is the country where the supplying company is headquartered.
- Abbott Laboratories (United States)
- AbbVie (United States)
- Actavis (Ireland)
- Allergan (United States)
- AmerisourceBergen (United States)
- Astellas Pharma (Japan)
- AstraZeneca (United Kingdom)
- Bristol-Myers Squibb (United States)
- Cardinal Health (United States)
- Daiichi Sankyo (Japan)
- Eli Lilly & Co (United States)
- GlaxoSmithKline (United Kingdom)
- McKesson (United States)
- Merck & Co (United States)
- Merck (Germany)
- Mylan (United States)
- Novartis (Switzerland)
- Novo Nordisk (Denmark)
- Otsuka Holding (Japan)
- Pfizer (United States)
- Roche Holding (Switzerland)
- Sanofi (France)
- Sinopharm Group (China)
- Takeda Pharmaceutical (Japan)
- Teva Pharmaceutical (Israel)
- Valeant Pharmaceuticals (Canada)
Searchable List of 100 Key Medication Exporters in 2021
The 100 top exporters in the automated database below represent 99.96% of the overall value of globally exported drugs and medicines.
| Rank | Exporter | Exported Medicines (US$) | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | $64,666,587,000 | +60% |
| 2. | Switzerland | $50,296,242,000 | +4.5% |
| 3. | Belgium | $33,307,921,000 | +70% |
| 4. | United States | $30,455,431,000 | +23.3% |
| 5. | France | $27,374,139,000 | -3.9% |
| 6. | Italy | $26,064,195,000 | -4.4% |
| 7. | Ireland | $22,726,587,000 | -1.7% |
| 8. | Netherlands | $19,657,015,000 | -10% |
| 9. | United Kingdom | $19,225,605,000 | +2.6% |
| 10. | India | $17,526,830,000 | +3.3% |
| 11. | Denmark | $16,048,035,000 | -3.9% |
| 12. | Spain | $11,446,789,000 | +5.1% |
| 13. | Canada | $8,576,423,000 | +12.3% |
| 14. | Slovenia | $8,533,859,000 | +16.7% |
| 15. | Sweden | $8,118,312,000 | -11.5% |
| 16. | Austria | $6,584,842,000 | +70% |
| 17. | Singapore | $6,347,105,000 | +14.9% |
| 18. | China | $5,706,407,000 | +10.7% |
| 19. | Japan | $4,661,895,000 | -7.5% |
| 20. | Hungary | $3,953,267,000 | +9.2% |
| 21. | Greece | $3,301,381,000 | +2.8% |
| 22. | Poland | $2,961,172,000 | +2.2% |
| 23. | Czech Republic | $2,756,446,000 | +110% |
| 24. | Israel | $2,175,852,000 | +61.9% |
| 25. | Hong Kong | $1,386,327,000 | +37.4% |
| 26. | Portugal | $1,368,899,000 | +3.2% |
| 27. | Turkey | $1,276,245,000 | +16.5% |
| 28. | Australia | $1,271,221,000 | -24.2% |
| 29. | Bulgaria | $1,071,113,000 | -0.8% |
| 30. | Romania | $1,049,181,000 | +8.6% |
| 31. | Mexico | $1,046,380,000 | +6.8% |
| 32. | South Korea | $915,693,000 | -9.51% |
| 33. | Finland | $846,931,000 | +32.9% |
| 34. | Russia | $827,557,000 | +13.3% |
| 35. | Croatia | $770,899,000 | +190% |
| 36. | Lithuania | $742,747,000 | +11.5% |
| 37. | Brazil | $700,558,000 | -3.7% |
| 38. | Latvia | $600,542,000 | +270% |
| 39. | Taiwan | $530,586,000 | +6.4% |
| 40. | Malta | $492,571,000 | +21.2% |
| 41. | South Africa | $479,676,000 | +58.7% |
| 42. | Panama | $478,920,000 | -69.5% |
| 43. | Slovakia | $455,675,000 | -50% |
| 44. | Norway | $438,540,000 | -17.7% |
| 45. | Argentina | $432,557,000 | +290% |
| 46. | Indonesia | $426,391,000 | -12.6% |
| 47. | Thailand | $412,591,000 | -0.9% |
| 48. | Cyprus | $409,378,000 | -4.9% |
| 49. | Saudi Arabia | $389,720,000 | -2.6% |
| 50. | Colombia | $346,177,000 | +6.8% |
| 51. | Serbia | $314,625,000 | +0.1% |
| 52. | Guatemala | $313,485,000 | +20.8% |
| 53. | Jordan | $297,380,000 | -50.5% |
| 54. | Malaysia | $294,348,000 | +27.6% |
| 55. | Belarus | $278,440,000 | -20% |
| 56. | Pakistan | $260,936,000 | +13.3% |
| 57. | Ukraine | $260,922,000 | +10.6% |
| 58. | Egypt | $260,286,000 | +19.8% |
| 59. | United Arab Emirates | $219,626,000 | -83.7% |
| 60. | Uruguay | $210,078,000 | +166.9% |
| 61. | El Salvador | $197,861,000 | +14.6% |
| 62. | Chile | $160,212,000 | +70% |
| 63. | Vietnam | $130,399,000 | -250% |
| 64. | Kenya | $128,618,000 | +3.9% |
| 65. | Morocco | $120,432,000 | +24.2% |
| 66. | North Macedonia | $113,103,000 | -7.3% |
| 67. | Costa Rica | $112,261,000 | -35.1% |
| 68. | New Zealand | $108,024,000 | -8.9% |
| 69. | Luxembourg | $106,742,000 | +11.2% |
| 70. | Estonia | $95,813,000 | +8.7% |
| 71. | Bangladesh | $92,250,000 | -37.1% |
| 72. | Tunisia | $83,456,000 | +35.1% |
| 73. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $82,201,000 | +60% |
| 74. | Dominican Republic | $68,259,000 | -26.9% |
| 75. | Peru | $63,385,000 | +36.7% |
| 76. | Kazakhstan | $60,428,000 | +12.2% |
| 77. | Paraguay | $53,508,000 | +210% |
| 78. | Georgia | $49,279,000 | +2.4% |
| 79. | Philippines | $48,481,000 | +33.3% |
| 80. | Oman | $45,483,000 | -55.4% |
| 81. | Guyana | $36,920,000 | -64.3% |
| 82. | Iran | $33,982,000 | -33.5% |
| 83. | Mauritius | $32,367,000 | +33.4% |
| 84. | Ecuador | $27,107,000 | +20.8% |
| 85. | Barbados | $22,993,000 | +0.3% |
| 86. | Uganda | $22,367,000 | -16.3% |
| 87. | Kuwait | $17,144,000 | -46.4% |
| 88. | Uzbekistan | $15,377,000 | -10.7% |
| 89. | Nepal | $13,717,000 | +270% |
| 90. | Fiji | $11,104,000 | +8.5% |
| 91. | Armenia | $10,074,000 | -60% |
| 92. | Ghana | $10,033,000 | +350% |
| 93. | Honduras | $9,752,000 | -21.3% |
| 94. | Nicaragua | $6,795,000 | +35.3% |
| 95. | Palestine | $6,169,000 | -36.1% |
| 96. | Cuba | $5,588,000 | -17.4% |
| 97. | Iceland | $5,473,000 | -53.1% |
| 98. | Lebanon | $4,933,000 | -89.8% |
| 99. | Eswatini | $4,690,000 | +2520% |
| 100. | Kyrgyzstan | $4,583,000 | +764.7% |
Expanding the scope to compare the 100 biggest exporters of drugs and medicines, the fastest growers are Eswatini (up 2,520% from 2020), Kyrgyzstan (up 764.7%), Uruguay (up 166.9%), Israel (up 61.9%), South Africa (up 58.7%) and Hong Kong (up 37.4%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. The right-most shows the percentage change in international product sales for each exporting entity year over year.
See also Top Antibiotics Exporters by Country, Imports of Drugs and Medicines by Country, Heart Pacemaker Export Sales by Country and Top Human Vaccines Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on June 7, 2022
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 7, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 7, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 7, 2022
Wikipedia, Drug. Accessed on June 7, 2022
Wikipedia, List of pharmaceutical companies. Accessed on June 7, 2022
