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Top 10 Pharmaceuticals

Top 10 Pharmaceuticals

The most used non-prescription medicine and prescription medicine in Norway in 2022 are all recurring from earlier years. Compared to 2021, folic acid, which is used against folate deficiency, is new on the list. Ramipril has dropped out from the list. 

Substance (example of pharmaceutical) DDD (per inhabitant) % Change
1. Atorvastatin (Lipitor) 46.4 8.9 %
2. Acetylsalicylic acid (Albyl-E) 20.1 - 2.8 %
3. Kandesartan (Atacand) 16.5 6.8 %
4. Paracetamol (Paracet) 15.4 8.0 %
5. Amlodipin (Norvasc) 14.5 2.5 %
6. Pantoprazal (Somac) 13.0 3.7 %
7. Cetirizin (Zyrtec) 12.7 -5.6 %
8. Kolekalsiferol (Divisun) 12.5 6.5 %
9. Desloratadin (Aerius) 12.1 1.6 %
10. Folic acid (Folsyre) 10.6 6.5 %

(Figure: Medicines with highest DDD per inhabitant)

DDD per inhabitant

In the period from 2012 to 2022, the use of prescription drugs (DDD per inhabitant) has increased by 27 per cent. The increase can partly be explained by a change in age structure. Older people use significantly more medicines than younger people. From 2012 to 2022, the population in Norway increased by 9 percent, while the population over 70 years increased by 36 percent. 

In 2022 the DDD per inhabitant was 581. That is an increase by 2.6 % from last year. 

Defined Daily Dose (DDD) is an international unit of measurement for the assumed average maintenance dose per day for a drug used for its main indication in adults2. We use DDD to compare consumption over time and DDD per inhabitant when we arrange the top substances.  

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