AstraZeneca Annual Report and Form 20-F Information 2008

Expanding patient populations

The world population has doubled in the last 50 years from three billion to over six billion and is expected to reach nine billion by 2050.

There are an increasing number of people who can access the highest standards of healthcare, especially among the elderly, who represent a rising proportion of developed nations’ populations. In addition, the fast-developing economies, such as China and Brazil, continue to offer new opportunities for the industry to gain access to an expanding number of patients who can benefit from medicines.

Emerging markets currently represent 85% of the world population and 20% of the total pharmaceutical market. Fuelled by faster GDP growth than in developed nations, pharmaceutical industry growth in emerging markets was in 2008 double the rate of that in established markets (See the World Pharmaceutical Markets table).

Back to the top