Eastern Europe

Paediatric consumer health achieved strong current value growth in 2023, largely in response to rising unit prices and inflation impacting consumer health products in general. Consumer demand for children-specific consumer health products remains…

The preference for herbal/traditional products has grown in recent years, driven by the rising demand for natural and clean ingredients. This trend is evident across the whole of consumer healthcare, but is particularly prominent in paediatric…

Sports nutrition is performing well in 2023 thanks to renewed consumer demand in the post-pandemic period, which is helping the category to surpass pre-pandemic sales levels. Generally, sports nutrition products are used by both professional athletes…

Sports nutrition is performing exceptionally well as the gym culture in Croatia is gaining momentum. Despite limited budgets and low income levels in the country, going to the gym and partaking in other sporting activities are becoming an integral…

Vitamins is witnessing one of the highest growth rates within consumer health in 2023, thanks to robust consumer demand driven by health and wellness trends. Vitamin intake and supplementation is gaining importance in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with…

The pandemic has encouraged several consumer behaviour changes in terms of the purchasing and consumption of vitamins. Croatians are now taking preventative health more seriously and vitamins and supplements are being taken by those who never…

Weight management and wellbeing continues to record strong current value growth rates in 2023, driven by the popularity of health and wellness trends, which is having a significant impact on consumer attitudes and purchasing patterns. COVID-19 is no…

Weight management and wellbeing has a very strong foundation to maintain its current consumer base and expand upon it as around 35% of children and 65% of adults are either overweight or obese in Croatia. For the last decade, Croatians have developed…

Consumer demand for wound care products remains stable in 2023, despite the significant unit price increases which had only a mild effect on retail volume growth. Conversely, current value growth has reached double-digits due to the price rises.…

Retail sales of wound care in Croatia grew with the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the public purchased basic wound care products to donate to those in Ukraine. The Ministry of Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a list of items suitable…

Sales of analgesics return to their pre-pandemic performance in 2023. After the pandemic, seasonal colds and flus circulated more in the country as consumers socialised more without wearing masks, and sales of analgesics have returned to their usual…

Demand for both adult and paediatric analgesics continued to grow in retail volume terms in 2023. Such products are widely used in Poland, particularly in the case of pain which is fleeting or immediate. With the rapid pace of modern life, consumers…

Despite general economic instability and a rise in prices, the analgesics category in 2023 looks set to achieve a positive performance. However, the current value growth rate is likely to be slower than in the previous year. This can be attributed to…

The market witnessed the shortage of some paediatric analgesics towards the end of the review period, causing alarm among parents in the Czech Republic. For example, the shortage of children's fever suppositories (Paralen Sup), which was most…

Many OTC categories in Estonia, including cough and cold, experienced strong decline during COVID-19; however, sales are returning to their pre-pandemic performance in 2023 as viral illness are circulating more following the lifting of pandemic…

The consumer health industry in Poland registered a decline in constant value terms in 2023, following the static performance of the previous year. This was against a backdrop of rising inflation, exacerbated by the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine,…

Despite ongoing economic instability and the high rate of inflation, the consumer health market in Romania is witnessing steady growth in 2023. Notably, it is the categories of vitamin and dietary supplements, cough, cold and allergy (hay fever)…

In 2022, consumer health in the Czech Republic was challenged by medicine shortages, which, to some degree, continued in Q1 2023. The lack of some medicines in the Czech Republic and throughout Europe was caused by the disruption of global supply…

Whilst the category continues to record growth in 2023, the particularly high growth level seen in the previous year could not be maintained. 2022 was a strong year for the category as consumers returned to their pre-pandemic lifestyles following the…

The majority of subcategories within cough, cold and allergy remedies recorded positive growth in retail volume terms in 2023. This was due, in a large part, to a return pre-pandemic lifestyles, which facilitated the spread of the influenza virus and…