Number of Pharmacies in France: 19,900 in November 2026

Number of pharmacies: answers to common market questions#

The right answer depends on the question. To know how many sites to visit or call, the benchmark is 19,880. To sell to a central buyer, look at the networks (3,996 pharmacies display one). To reach local decision-makers, focus on the 15,773 pharmacies with no network displayed. If you sell medical equipment, about 1 pharmacy in 6 is a potential prospect.

For a sales rep: who, how many, where.

• Who decides: the titulaire (owner-pharmacist), in about 3 pharmacies in 4 that display no network. For a listing deal, the 10 largest networks displayed cover 2,689 pharmacies; 9 in 10 also buy through a buying group.
• How many: 19,880 pharmacies; €2.4M to €2.6M in revenue for an average pharmacy; about 1 in 6 lists medical equipment as a specialty, 23% in Brittany versus 11% in Île-de-France.
• Where: the Nord département (852), Paris (846) and Bouches-du-Rhône (719) have the most; 2.9 pharmacies per 10,000 residents on average.
• How to reach them: 88% have a phone number on a public listing, only 14% an email address. Nearly 7 in 10 close at lunchtime, most often from 12:30 pm, reopening at 2 pm: call in the morning or late in the afternoon. The details are in How do you build a pharmacy prospect list?

Why the number of pharmacies varies by source#

An officine is the official French name for a retail pharmacy. The figure of 19,381, quoted in June 2026 by BFMTV and Capital as the national total, covers only mainland France. With the overseas territories, the Order counts 19,990 pharmacies.

The source is the Order's demographic summary as of January 1, 2026, published in June 2026. For a national total as of a specific date, cite this figure.

A more recent count exists. The FINESS registry, France's national file of health and social care facilities, is published every day by the Agence du numérique en santé (the French digital health agency). We counted 19,880 open pharmacies in it as of November 2, 2026: 19,268 in mainland France, 612 overseas. In practice: France has just under 20,000 pharmacies. This registry and its contents are covered in our guide to the FINESS database.

The Order, the registry and the sites that repeat their figures publish totals for 2026 that range from 19,434 (GERS Data) to 20,003 (an extract of the registry from May 2026): they differ by date and scope.

Hospital pharmacies are in none of these totals. The Order lists them separately, with healthcare facilities. To put a figure found elsewhere in context, check its date first, then its scope.

One last gap is not a counting gap: 9 pharmacies in 10 belong to a buying group, but only about 1 in 4 displays one. Both figures are right and they do not measure the same thing (see level 5).

How big is the pharmacy market in euros?#

The pharmacy sector generated €48.4 billion in revenue in 2025, up 4.5% year over year, according to GERS Data (February 2026 webinar, reported by Le Moniteur des pharmacies). Divided across the Order's 19,990 pharmacies, that is about €2.4M per pharmacy.

To estimate what an account is worth, there are two public benchmarks and our own measurement.

Public averages. The CGP (Conseil Gestion Pharmacie, a network of accountants) reports average revenue excluding VAT of €2.655M in 2025 across 1,905 pharmacies. Fiducial, across 500 pharmacies, finds €2.39M. These are panels of accounting firm clients, not a census of pharmacies.

Our measurement. Of the 19,651 companies that run a single pharmacy, 13,310 filed financial statements for a fiscal year ending in 2024 or later. 1,429 publish their revenue; the others file a confidential income statement. Of those 1,429, half make more than €2.6M. A quarter make less than €1.8M and a quarter more than €3.7M; the average is €3.25M. That is more than the public averages (€2.4M for the sector divided across pharmacies, €2.655M for the CGP, €2.39M for Fiducial): companies that publish their accounts tend to be larger than the others. For any given pharmacy, count on between €2.4M and €2.6M.

On employment, the Cour des comptes (the French national audit court) counts about 91,900 employees in pharmacies (data as of January 1, 2024). The breakdown below uses the business register's employee counts for each pharmacy.

The revenue figures cover only companies that choose to publish their revenue. In practice, use €2.4M to €2.6M in revenue to gauge a prospect's size; when planning a budget, bear in mind that about 1 pharmacy in 8 exceeds €5M and about 1 in 16 generates less than €1M.

What is the NAF code for a pharmacy?#

The NAF code (the French activity classification code, also called APE code) is the activity code that Insee, France's national statistics office, assigns to every business. For pharmacies, it is 47.73Z, "commerce de détail de produits pharmaceutiques en magasin spécialisé" (retail sale of pharmaceutical products in specialized stores). 98% of the registry's pharmacies with an active SIRET number (16,316 of 16,589) are coded 47.73Z; 199 are coded 47.74Z.

Conversely, the code is not enough to spot a pharmacy: only 2 in 3 locations coded 47.73Z are one (see level 1).

The NAF classification is being revised. On January 1, 2027, 47.73Z will be replaced by 47.73Y in NAF 2025, which is broader: "the retail sale, in all its forms, of pharmaceutical products," veterinary medicines included (Insee). Before reusing 47.73Z in a count, check how it maps to the new classification.

Market vocabulary#

Level 1. The universe: 24,485 "47.73Z" locations#

The broadest level is the pharmacy activity code. As of November 2, 2026, the Sirene register (the French business register) lists 24,485 open locations under code 47.73Z. Sirene counts locations, that is, places of business each with its own SIRET number. The Order counts registered pharmacies. The two registers do not count the same thing: their totals should not be compared line by line.

Only 16,247 of these locations, 2 in 3, have the SIRET number of an open pharmacy in the FINESS registry.

In practice: a file built on code 47.73Z alone has about 24,500 rows for fewer than 20,000 pharmacies. To prospect pharmacies, start from the FINESS registry, then add the current SIRET number.

This universe also contains places that the figure of 19,880 does not count.

• Mutual-insurer and mining pharmacies. An extract of the FINESS registry from May 2026 counts 37 mutual-insurer and 17 mining pharmacies, as well as 76 propharmacies.
• Parapharmacies. The French Public Health Code reserves the retail sale of medicines to pharmacists, with exceptions (article L4211-1). The Order registers pharmacies, not parapharmacies. We found no official count: the total of 19,990 does not include them. Les Echos Études counts 671 in large grocery retailers as of mid-2025.

Level 2. The 19,880 pharmacies#

Unless stated otherwise, the levels that follow use these 19,880 pharmacies as their base. When a measurement uses another base (companies that publish their accounts, public listings, pharmacies found in our data), the sentence names it.

The FINESS registry gives the total: 19,880 open pharmacies, of which 19,268 in mainland France and 612 overseas (1 of them in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon). Every pharmacy must be registered in it to open: it is the most complete and most recent count, give or take a few dozen openings and closures that are recorded late.

On size, the business register gives the number of employees of each pharmacy:

One pharmacy in three employs 6 to 9 people, another one in three 3 to 5. One in five employs at least 10. In practice: a typical pharmacy is a small business with a few employees, with a titulaire who decides everything.

Level 3. Who signs: one company, one pharmacy#

In the registry, each pharmacy has its own operator. The FINESS registry counts 19,879 operators for 19,880 pharmacies. That is the law, article L5125-11 of the French Public Health Code: "Un pharmacien ou une société ne peut être propriétaire ou copropriétaire que d'une seule officine" (a pharmacist or a company may own or co-own only one pharmacy).

In practice: for anyone selling to pharmacies, there are almost as many decision-makers as pharmacies. Buying groups and brands bring pharmacies together, but each one remains a separate business.

About 1 pharmacy in 13 is run by a pharmacist as a sole proprietor (1,572). The others are run by a company, mostly professional practice companies: 14,265, or 72% of pharmacies. The Order counts more: 77% in mainland France as of January 1, 2026 (14,983 of 19,381). One possible explanation, which our data cannot confirm, is that the registry still lists an earlier legal form for some companies.

The business register names the manager of 97% of the businesses that run a pharmacy with an open SIRET number (15,959 of 16,508). Nearly one manager in four is 60 or older: some pharmacies will change hands in the coming years. Online appointment booking pages also name at least one pharmacist for 7,098 pharmacies, more than 1 in 3.

The Cour des comptes (May 2025, data as of January 1, 2024) counts 25,301 titulaire pharmacists for 20,502 pharmacies: several titulaires therefore often share the same pharmacy. For a seller, the contact may be one partner among several.

Level 4. Specialties#

A pharmacy does not sell only medicines. We read the main category and the declared activities on public pharmacy listings, as of November 6, 2026: 21,456 open listings on an online maps service, and 20,632 "Pharmacie" listings in a professional directory.

About 1 pharmacy in 6 lists medical equipment as a specialty: the two sources agree (16.1% of online map listings, 16.6% of the professional directory). More than 1 pharmacy in 4 lists at least one additional activity on online map listings (26.3%), compared with 1 in 3 in the professional directory (33.6%).

The share of medical equipment varies by region. It ranges from 11% of listings in Île-de-France to 23% in Brittany and 21 to 22% in Pays de la Loire and Hauts-de-France (mainland France; Corsica, 27%, has only 144 listings). In practice, an equipment rental company will find that pharmacies already equipped for this activity are twice as common, proportionally, in Brittany as in Île-de-France.

These shares are minimum estimates based on self-reported activities: a pharmacy that lists no additional activities may still offer them. The underlying data also count listings rather than individual pharmacies: the same pharmacy may have two listings. Read them as shares, not as headcounts.

Level 5. Independents, buying groups, and corporate groups#

For a supplier, the question is: how many purchasing decisions? A pharmacy may belong to a buying group that negotiates for a thousand others. This section counts pharmacies, publicly identified networks, and corporate groups.

Two definitions of independence#

Two figures circulate, both right: they do not measure the same thing.

We found 19,769 of the 19,880 registry pharmacies in our data, that is, in the business register or on their public listings. "No network displayed": Scalon's definition. An independent pharmacy, in market terms, is not part of a chain, franchise, brand or buying group. From the outside, we see the network it displays: pharmacies that carry the same brand or share a website or an email domain count as one network; a pharmacy with no network displayed carries none. The company barely matters here: the law allows one company per pharmacy (level 3). Of the 19,769 registry pharmacies that we find in our data (read on November 2, 2026), 15,773 meet this definition, or 79.8% according to our automated calculation. A review of 100 pharmacies drawn at random (one blind reading by a language model, a second by Scalon, arbitrated by Scalon) shows that this calculation misses networks carried only by the name (Boticinal, Evolupharm, Elsie Santé): 3 to 7 of the 85 pharmacies classified as having no network display one. Corrected, the share with no network displayed is 67% to 79%: about 3 in 4. None of the 15 pharmacies classified as in a network was misclassified. The other 3,996 pharmacies found, 20.2%, display the name or website of a network.

"Member of a buying group": the definition used by industry studies. According to GERS Data (2025), 91% of pharmacies belong to a buying group or a GIE (economic interest grouping). The Cour des comptes reports 94% in 2023, up from 80% in 2016. A buying group is a purchasing or services contract: it is often invisible on the pharmacy's public listing, which does not display its group.

The two definitions answer two questions. "Who can I spot by name?": about 1 pharmacy in 4. "Who already has a group purchasing contract?": 9 in 10. In practice: a supplier who wants to get products listed can approach the buying groups (about a hundred according to the Cour des comptes, "from about ten to a thousand members"), but a seller of a local service or equipment still approaches pharmacies one by one.

The size of networks#

We identify 89 networks. 51 have 2 to 9 pharmacies (152 in all), 21 have 10 to 49 (624) and 17 have 50 or more (3,220). The top 5 bring together 1,978 pharmacies, the top 10 2,689.

These figures are minimums: a pharmacy that does not display its buying group is not counted.

Networks by region and account size#

To cross networks with region and revenue, we redid the calculation pharmacy by pharmacy on a random draw of 1,000 registry pharmacies (read on November 6, 2026). 17.6% of them display a network, slightly fewer than across all pharmacies (20.2%): in a draw, a network identified by a shared website is only partly visible. Displayed networks weigh more in Grand Est (30%) and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (32%) than in Nouvelle-Aquitaine (9%) or Normandy (11%). Each region rests on 31 to 142 pharmacies drawn, within 6 to 15 points: this is an order of magnitude. 166 of the 1,000 pharmacies drawn, with no known département in our data, are left out of this cross-tabulation.

Revenue does not distinguish the two groups. In this draw, half of the 14 companies in a network that publish their accounts exceed €2.4M, half of the 53 with no network €2.5M: too few accounts to conclude there is a gap. In practice, a network does not tell you the size of the account; the headcount bracket and the region tell you more.

Four types of networks#

Not all networks are equal for a buyer. Based on public evidence (network websites, press releases, and trade publications), we distinguish the following types:

The ten largest networks#

Every network claims more pharmacies than we see: the two figures do not count the same thing. We count the pharmacies whose public listing displays the network; the network counts its members, displayed or not. For Giropharm, for example, 465 pharmacies display it and the network claims more than 1,600. No official list ranks the buying groups. Hygie31, the parent company of Pharmacie Lafayette and Pharmacorp, reports more than 1,700 member pharmacies, according to Revue Pharma (March 2026).

Groups: pharmacists and holding companies with several pharmacies#

In the business register, 16,782 pharmacy companies have their managers on record. Among their managers, 121 people manage two or more pharmacy companies: they manage 237 companies, or 1.4%. 52 companies have another company (a holding company) as their manager, and only 3 holding companies manage several pharmacy companies (4, 2 and 2), including Evecial, the corporate group behind Boticinal. In practice: in the managers register, a manager at the head of several pharmacies is rare. However, this register does not record shareholdings: the Order counts 8,105 pharmacist holding companies as of January 1, 2026.

A benchmark of another kind: nearly 15% of pharmacies now belong to groups backed by investment funds, according to GERS Data (2025).

Level 6. Where are the pharmacies?#

As of November 2, 2026, the FINESS registry counts 3,356 pharmacies in Île-de-France. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes follows with 2,294: these are the two highest regional totals. Mayotte comes last with 30.

These figures are raw counts. They show where the most pharmacies are, not where there are the most per resident. A populous region automatically has more.

Relative to population, the picture changes. France has 2.9 pharmacies per 10,000 residents as of November 2, 2026. Guadeloupe has 4.1, French Guiana 1.8 and Mayotte 0.9. In mainland France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Corsica have the most (3.4), Pays de la Loire and Normandy the fewest (2.6).

By département, the FINESS registry puts Nord first with 852 pharmacies, ahead of Paris (846) and Bouches-du-Rhône (719). Lozère has 33.

The Order's map shows the distribution of pharmacies across France by region. It details the pharmacy network in each of the 18 regions.

Is the market changing?#

In 2025, the Order recorded 245 pharmacy closures, versus 250 in 2024. These figures come from its "Tous Pharmaciens" magazine of July 2026. They are drawn from the FINESS databases, cross-checked with information from the Order's regional councils and the regional health agencies. A relocation or a change of owner is not counted. This figure does not include openings, so it does not show the net change in the number of pharmacies. The number of pharmacies has fallen below 20,000.

The Order counted 20,242 pharmacies on January 1, 2025, and 19,990 a year later: 252 fewer. The media talk about "pharmacy deserts" (BFMTV, June 2026). Our registry does not count municipalities without a pharmacy; density gives a first benchmark: 0.9 pharmacies per 10,000 residents in Mayotte, 1.8 in French Guiana, 2.9 on average in France.

The FINESS registry allows more recent tracking. From November 2, 2025 to November 2, 2026, the registry recorded 217 pharmacy closures, 52 of them in December 2025. That is the same pace as the Order's, about 20 a month. This count may include relocations, which the Order removes.

Which pharmacies close? According to the Order (June 17, 2026), 42% of closures involve pharmacies with revenue between €500,000 and €1 million. These are small accounts, far from the €2.4M to €2.6M of an average pharmacy. In practice: closures hit mostly small accounts, and a list from last year already contains pharmacies that have disappeared.

The pharmacy submarkets#

Depending on what you sell, the useful market is not the 19,880 pharmacies, but one of these submarkets:

• Parapharmacies: more than 671, including 671 in large grocery retailers (Les Echos Études, mid-2025). The 5,068 "parapharmacie" places are mostly pharmacies.
• Medical equipment pharmacies: about 1 pharmacy in 6 declares medical equipment (3,449 public listings read on November 6, 2026).
• Pharmacy buying groups: 89 networks identified on public listings. GERS Data counted 150 buying groups and federations in September 2024, the Observatoire LPC listed 98 in 2025.
• Veterinary pharmacies: 1,608 public listings include veterinary medicines (7.5% of online map listings).
• Mutual-insurer pharmacies: 37 mutual-insurer pharmacies and 17 mining pharmacies in the FINESS registry of May 2026. Le Quotidien du Pharmacien counted 33 at the end of 2025.

How do you use these figures for a market study?#

A pharmacy market study takes four steps.

1. The addressable market. Start from the 19,880 pharmacies of the registry, not the 24,485 locations under code 47.73Z. Remove what your offer does not cover: overseas (612), pharmacies that are closing.
2. Segmentation. Segment by size (employees, revenue), listed specialty, legal form, and network. A medical equipment rental offer targets about 1 pharmacy in 6; software targets everyone; getting products approved for sale means targeting buying group leadership.
3. Territory. Relate pharmacies to residents: 2.9 per 10,000 on average, 3.4 in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, 2.6 in Normandy. A region dense in pharmacies is also a region where they compete with each other.
4. Market changes. About 20 closures a month: the list ages (see "Is the market changing?").

How do you build a pharmacy prospect list?#

Start from the FINESS registry, which lists the 19,880 open pharmacies. Then attach each pharmacy to its current SIRET number in the business register: about 1 in 6 carries an outdated number in the registry (see level 1). Then add what lets you reach them.

Of the 19,769 pharmacies that we find in our data, 88% have a phone number on at least one public listing and 59% a website, but only 14% an email address. The FINESS registry itself gives a phone number for 17,122 pharmacies (86%). The phone remains the most reliable channel.

Appointment booking pages also publish the opening hours of 11,019 pharmacies: 92% open on Saturday, fewer than 4% on Sunday. Nearly 7 in 10 close at lunchtime on most weekdays, most often from 12:30 pm, reopening at 2 pm.

You can redo this work on a small scale. To find pharmacies that offer medical equipment in your area, search for "pharmacie matériel médical" (French for "pharmacy medical equipment") and your city on an online map or in a professional directory, then check the activities listed on each profile. To know whether a pharmacy depends on a network, look at the name on the storefront and the footer of its website.

Finally, add the network affiliation shown and the buying group's central organization to determine whether purchasing decisions are made by the pharmacy or by the central purchasing organization.

Frequently asked questions#

How many pharmacies are there in France?#

19,880 pharmacies open in the FINESS registry on November 2, 2026, of which 19,268 in mainland France and 612 overseas. The Order counts 19,990 as of January 1, 2026.

How many pharmacies are independent?#

It depends on the definition. 15,773 of the 19,769 pharmacies found in our data (79.8%) display no network according to our automated calculation, about 3 in 4 (67% to 79%) after a review of 100. But 91% of pharmacies belong to a buying group or a GIE according to GERS Data (94% according to the Cour des comptes in 2023). Both are right: one measures what is visible on the listing, the other membership.

How much does a pharmacy earn?#

An average pharmacy makes €2.4M to €2.6M in revenue: the sector makes €2.4M per pharmacy, and half of the 1,429 companies that publish their accounts exceed €2.6M. The CGP measures €2.655M on average in 2025, Fiducial €2.39M. Half of these 1,429 companies have net income above €108,500.

Can you own several pharmacies?#

Not in the same company: article L5125-11 of the French Public Health Code forbids a pharmacist or a company from owning more than one pharmacy. Yet 121 pharmacists manage two or more pharmacy companies, and 3 holding companies manage several.

What is the NAF code of a pharmacy?#

47.73Z, which becomes 47.73Y on January 1, 2027. The code alone does not identify pharmacies: only 2 in 3 locations coded 47.73Z are pharmacies listed in the registry.

How many pharmacies close each year?#

245 in 2025 according to the Order, 250 in 2024. The FINESS registry counts 217 over the 12 months to November 2, 2026.

Why do the figures differ from one source to another?#

Because the counts cover different dates and populations: the Order lists 19,990 pharmacies as of January 1, 2026, the FINESS registry lists 19,880 as of November 2, and the Sirene register lists 24,485 locations under code 47.73Z. Each figure is right for its own question.

Method#

The number of pharmacies comes from the FINESS registry: the "Structures" file of the Agence du numérique en santé of November 2, 2026, category 620 facilities (retail pharmacy) that are active and have no closing date. The region and département come from the postal code. The Order's figures are taken from its publications without recalculation, except the sum of the 18 regions on its map (19,798). Networks and public contact details come from our reading of November 2, 2026 across 19,769 pharmacies linked to the business register; company accounts, managers and specialties were read on November 6, 2026.

Key takeaways#

France has 19,880 open pharmacies as of November 2, 2026, a total consistent with the Order (19,990 as of January 1). To sell to pharmacies, the useful question is not "how many?" but "to whom?": one company, one pharmacy, about 3 pharmacies in 4 with no network displayed but 9 in 10 in a buying group; €2.4M to €2.6M in revenue for an average pharmacy; about 1 pharmacy in 6 lists medical equipment as a specialty. Code 47.73Z does not replace the FINESS registry for building a list.

Cite this study#

Sources#

• Synthèse des données démographiques au 1er janvier 2026, Ordre national des pharmaciens
• Synthèse des données démographiques au 1er janvier 2025, Ordre national des pharmaciens
• Carte régionale officine, mise à jour le 13/10/2026, Ordre national des pharmaciens
• Démographie pharmaceutique : une profession qui se transforme, Tous Pharmaciens n° 31, juillet 2026, Ordre national des pharmaciens
• En dix ans, la pharmacie a perdu 3 173 titulaires et franchi un seuil historique, Le Moniteur des pharmacies, 23 juin 2026
• Chiffre d'affaires des pharmacies, +4.5 % en 2025, GERS Data, Le Moniteur des pharmacies, 13 février 2026
• Groupements : une coexistence de trois modèles, GERS Data, Le Moniteur des pharmacies, 7 novembre 2025
• Se concentrer pour mieux régner, GERS Data, Le Moniteur des pharmacies, 13 novembre 2024
• Les pharmacies d'officine, Cour des comptes, mai 2025
• Chiffre d'affaires moyen d'une officine en 2025, CGP, présenté le 13 mars 2026, PharmaPex
• Chiffre d'affaires, marge, trésorerie : les chiffres de l'officine, Observatoire Fiducial, Le Moniteur des pharmacies, 10 septembre 2026
• Parapharmacies de la grande distribution alimentaire, Les Echos Études, octobre 2025
• Hygie 31 ambitionne de devenir un leader de la santé en Europe, Revue Pharma, 10 mars 2026
• Les pharmacies mutualistes rejoignent le groupement Pharmacorp, Le Quotidien du Pharmacien, 6 novembre 2025
• Le nombre de pharmacies a reculé de plus de 10 % en dix ans, BFMTV, 18 juin 2026
• Nombre de pharmacies en France en 2026, Salesia, 28 septembre 2026
• Regroupements d'officines : derrière les fermetures, la recomposition du réseau, Pharma365, 20 juillet 2026
• Giphar, la coopérative
• Leadersanté, le groupe
• Laf Santé, réseau Pharmacie Lafayette
• Pharmacie Référence Groupe
• PharmaBest, résultats 2025, communiqué du 25 février 2026
• Oxypharm, une société du groupe coopératif Astera
• Wellpharma
• Pharmacies : 10 % d'officines en moins en dix ans, Capital, 19 juin 2026
• L'indépendance professionnelle du pharmacien, Cahier thématique n° 24, Ordre national des pharmaciens
• Pharm-UPP, le groupement
• Giropharm, nous rejoindre
• Aprium Pharmacie
• Pharmactiv, groupement fournisseur de services pour la pharmacie
• Pharmavie
• FINESS – Structures, fichier du 2 novembre 2026, Agence du numérique en santé, data.gouv.fr
• Article L4211-1, Code de la santé publique, Légifrance
• Article L5125-11, Code de la santé publique, Légifrance
• Décret n° 2013-466 relatif aux sociétés d'exercice libéral et aux SPFPL de pharmaciens, Légifrance
• Décret n° 2025-736 du 31 juillet 2025 approuvant la NAF 2025, Légifrance
• Sous-classe 47.73Z, NAF rév. 2, Insee
• Sous-classe 47.73Y, NAF 2025, Insee
• Vers une nouvelle nomenclature : la NAF 2025, Insee
• Entreprises et établissements actifs en 47.73Z, base Sirene du 1er novembre 2026, Sifin