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

> Number of pharmacies in France: 19,880 as of November 2, 2026 (FINESS). Ownership, networks, buying groups, revenue, and regional distribution.

Source: https://scalon.fr/en/observatory/number-of-pharmacies-in-france

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[← The Observatory](/en/observatory)

Observatory · Health and social care

The number of pharmacies, their ownership, account sizes, and locations: the market counted pharmacy by pharmacy in the official registry of November 2, 2026, for anyone who sells to them or wants to build a prospecting list.

By [Nicolas Morillot](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-morillot-22b656174/) · Co-founder of Scalon

FINESS registry dated November 2, 2026 · Sirene register and network structure reviewed on November 2, 2026 · French Order of Pharmacists, January 1 and October 13, 2026 · Company financial statements reviewed on November 6, 2026

The short answer

As of November 2, 2026, France has 19,880 open pharmacies according to FINESS, the official national registry of health and social care facilities, 612 of them overseas. The French Order of Pharmacists counted 19,990 as of January 1, 2026. Each pharmacy has its own operator: about 3 in 4 display no network, but 9 in 10 belong to a buying group, according to GERS Data.

Get the list of the 19,900 pharmacies in France, with the contact details available.

Published on November 2, 2026 · Updated on November 6, 2026

Key figures

19,880

Pharmacies open in France

FINESS registry as of November 2, 2026, overseas territories included

3 in 4

Pharmacies with no network displayed on their public listings

15,773 of the 19,769 found in our data (79.8%), 67% to 79% after a review of 100; membership in a buying group, however, is not visible

€2.6M

Half of pharmacies that publish financial statements generate more than this amount

1,429 companies; €2.4M per pharmacy across the whole sector

1 in 6

Pharmacies that list medical equipment as a specialty

Based on a review of 21,456 public pharmacy listings; a professional directory reports the same share

88%

Pharmacies reachable by phone

17,335 of the 19,769 have a number on a public listing; only 14% have an email address

## In this article

- Number of pharmacies: the answer depending on your question
- Why the number of pharmacies varies by source
- How big is the pharmacy market in euros?
- What is the NAF code for a pharmacy?
- Market vocabulary
- Level 1. The universe: 24,485 "47.73Z" locations
- Level 2. The 19,880 pharmacies
- Level 3. Who signs: one company, one pharmacy
- Level 4. Specialties
- Level 5. Independents, buying groups and groups
- Level 6. Where are the pharmacies?
- Is the market changing?
- The pharmacy submarkets
- How do you use these figures for a market study?
- How do you build a pharmacy prospecting file?
- Frequently asked questions
- Method

## Number of pharmacies: answers to common market questions

| Question | Key figure | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| How many pharmacies are open in France? | 19,880 | FINESS, November 2, 2026 |
| How many in mainland France, how many overseas? | 19,268 and 612 | FINESS, November 2, 2026 |
| How many according to the Order? | 19,990 (19,381 of them in mainland France) | Order, January 1, 2026 |
| How many locations under code 47.73Z? | 24,485, including 16,247 pharmacies listed in the registry | Sirene, November 2, 2026 |
| How many pharmacies with no network displayed? | 15,773 of the 19,769 found in our data | Scalon, November 2, 2026 |
| How many belong to a buying group? | 9 in 10 | GERS Data, 2025 |
| What revenue does an average pharmacy have? | €2.4M to €2.6M | GERS Data 2025 and Scalon (1,429 companies), November 6, 2026 |
| How many list medical equipment as a specialty? | About 1 in 6 | Public listings, November 6, 2026 |
| How many pharmacies closed in one year? | 217 | FINESS, November 2, 2025 to November 2, 2026 |
| How many parapharmacies (health and beauty stores that do not sell medicines) operate separately from pharmacies? | More than 671 (671 in large retail chains alone) | Les Echos Études, mid-2025 |

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](https://www.ordre.pharmacien.fr/mediatheque/fichiers/demographie-2025-depliant-fr), 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](/en/blog/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.

What the other sources say: all the published counts

The Order itself publishes two different figures. The demographic data on the profession are a snapshot as of a given date: change the date and the total changes.

Key pharmacy counts:

- **19,990** as of January 1, 2026, mainland and overseas (the Order's demographic summary).
- **19,381** in mainland France, on the same date.
- **609** overseas, on the same date.
- **19,798** as of October 13, 2026, mainland France and overseas départements (French county-level divisions) (the [Order's regional map of pharmacies](https://www.ordre.pharmacien.fr/je-suis/pharmacien/je-suis-pharmacien-titulaire-d-officine/mon-exercice-professionnel/les-cartes/carte-regionale-officine-mis-a-jour-le-13-10-2026)).
- **19,880** as of November 2, 2026, mainland and overseas (FINESS registry, our count).

The two Order releases do not state the same scope. The summary refers to overseas départements and territories; the map refers to mainland France and overseas départements, without saying whether it includes the other territories. The Order does not explain the gap of 192 between the two. The gap is comparable to ten months of closures, but the releases describe different scopes, so we cannot determine what accounts for it.

For the same geographic area (excluding Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon), the FINESS registry lists 81 more pharmacies than the Order's map, using data from three weeks later. Region by region, the two sources are almost identical: the gap exceeds 10 pharmacies only in Île-de-France (20) and in Grand Est (11).

Other counts circulate. An extract of the FINESS registry from May 2026 gives 20,003. GERS Data reports 19,434 pharmacies in early 2026 without specifying the geographic area covered. One website gives 19,862 as of January 1, 2026, far from the Order's 19,990. The Sirene register counts 25,572 active businesses under code 47.73Z as of November 1, 2026: the code covers more than pharmacies (see below).

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.

Caption: more than half of the pharmacies that publish their accounts make between €1M and €3M; 174 exceed €5M. Company financial statements reviewed on November 6, 2026. Scalon Observatory, November 2026.

Chart data

| Revenue | Companies | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Under €1M | 92 | 6.4% |
| €1 to 2M | 358 | 25.1% |
| €2 to 3M | 419 | 29.3% |
| €3 to 5M | 386 | 27.0% |
| €5M and over | 174 | 12.2% |

Details: weight of the largest companies and net income

The 10 largest companies make only 5.8% of the combined revenue of these 1,429: revenue is spread across many accounts of similar size, not concentrated in a few. The net income of a typical pharmacy is €108,500: half of the companies earn more.

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

Market vocabulary, explained simply

| Term | Plain definition |
| --- | --- |
| Officine (pharmacy) | The retail pharmacy, open to the public. In this study, it is an open facility listed under category 620 in the FINESS registry. |
| Titulaire | The pharmacist who owns their pharmacy, alone or through a company. |
| Adjoint | An employed pharmacist who assists the titulaire. |
| SEL, SELARL, SELAS | Professional practice company (société d'exercice libéral). The SELARL is a limited-liability company, the SELAS is a simplified joint-stock company. These are the two most common forms. |
| SPFPL | Holding company for professional practices (société de participations financières de professions libérales): a company that owns shares in pharmacy companies. Only pharmacists may own shares in it. |
| Buying group (groupement) | An organization through which pharmacists pool purchasing, services, or branding. The members remain owners of their pharmacy. |
| Cooperative | A buying group owned by its pharmacist members, each with one vote. |
| Brand (enseigne) | The commercial name on the pharmacy's storefront (for example "Pharmacie Lafayette"). |
| Wholesaler-distributor | A company that delivers medicines to pharmacies. Some wholesalers have their own pharmacy buying group. |
| Parapharmacie | Health and beauty products that are not medicines. Pharmacies sell them; some stores sell them without a pharmacy. |
| Propharmacie | A stock of medicines kept by a doctor in a municipality with no pharmacy. |
| Mutual-insurer and mining pharmacy | A pharmacy run by a mutual insurer or a mining company, under the responsibility of a managing pharmacist. |
| FINESS | The national file of health and social care facilities, kept by the Agence du numérique en santé. |
| Independent, "no network displayed" (Scalon) | An independent pharmacy, in market terms, is not part of a chain, franchise, brand or buying group. From the outside, Scalon counts as "no network displayed" a pharmacy that shows no brand, buying group or cooperative on its public listings. Yet 9 in 10 belong to a buying group, according to GERS Data. |

## 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](/en/blog/sirene-database) (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.

Details: what the other 8,238 locations are

We reviewed the listings for 50 of the other 8,238, selected at random: about half are pharmacies (give or take 13 points). The full count points the same way: 4,419 of the 8,238 have a directory listing. Many are probably registry pharmacies registered under another number: 3,281 pharmacies in the registry carry a SIRET that is closed or unknown in the register, and 3,243 of them have a 47.73Z location in the same municipality. The rest almost never have a visible store: a pharmacist registered in their own name, a holding company. Only one sells something else, CBD.

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.

Details: places classified as "parapharmacie" in our directories

Our directories give another order of magnitude. As of November 2, 2026, 5,068 places are classified as "parapharmacie" in public business listings or professional directories. 2 in 3 are in fact pharmacies from the FINESS registry, which have a parapharmacie section. We reviewed listings for 50 of the other 1,617, selected at random: more than half are still pharmacies, and about 1 in 5 is a parapharmacie operating without a pharmacy, usually inside a hypermarket, a very large French supermarket (8 of 11 are E.Leclerc stores). In practice: our directories find at least a few hundred parapharmacies without a pharmacy, mostly in hypermarkets. Les Echos Études counts 671 in large grocery retailers alone as of mid-2025, so the total exceeds that figure but falls short of the thousands suggested by some websites.

## 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:

| Employees reported to the register | Share of the 16,589 pharmacies with an open SIRET |
| --- | --- |
| 0 to 2 | 9% |
| 3 to 5 | 32% |
| 6 to 9 | 34% |
| 10 or more | 20% |
| Not reported | 4% |

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.

**Selling to pharmacies in France?** Get the list for your area and your target, ready to call.

## 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.

The details of the operating forms

| Operator form | Pharmacies | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| SELARL | 10,150 | 51.1% |
| SELAS | 4,115 | 20.7% |
| EURL (single-member limited liability company) | 2,132 | 10.7% |
| Pharmacist as sole proprietor | 1,572 | 7.9% |
| SARL (limited liability company) | 1,229 | 6.2% |
| SNC (general partnership) | 508 | 2.6% |
| Other forms | 174 | 0.9% |
| **Total** | **19,880** | **100%** |

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.

Caption: medical equipment is the most frequently declared activity, by about 1 pharmacy in 6. Public business listings on an online maps service, November 6, 2026. Scalon Observatory, November 2026.

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%).

Breakdown by activity and source

| Declared activity | Online map listings (out of 21,456) | Professional directory (out of 20,632) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Medical equipment | 3,449 (16.1%) | 3,429 (16.6%) |
| Herbal products, aromatherapy, and organic products | 2,913 (13.6%) | 2,821 (13.7%) |
| Homeopathy | 2,774 (12.9%) | 1,142 (5.5%) |
| Parapharmacie | 2,424 (11.3%) | 1,845 (8.9%) |
| Beauty and cosmetics | 1,707 (8.0%) | not recorded |
| Veterinary medicines | 1,608 (7.5%) | 693 (3.4%) |
| Orthopedics and compression | not recorded | 2,993 (14.5%) |
| Delivery or online sales | not recorded | 1,391 (6.7%) |
| Vaccines and tests | not recorded | 1,054 (5.1%) |
| Wigs | not recorded | 299 |
| Teleconsultation | not recorded | 75 |

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.

Share of pharmacy listings that declare medical equipment, by region

| Region | Pharmacy listings | Medical equipment |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Corsica | 144 | 27.1% |
| Brittany | 1,032 | 22.8% |
| Hauts-de-France | 2,084 | 21.5% |
| Pays de la Loire | 1,128 | 21.4% |
| Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 2,170 | 17.8% |
| Normandy | 993 | 16.3% |
| Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 990 | 15.9% |
| Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 2,005 | 15.8% |
| Centre-Val de Loire | 798 | 15.7% |
| Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 2,519 | 15.4% |
| Occitanie | 2,121 | 14.4% |
| Grand Est | 1,721 | 13.7% |
| Île-de-France | 3,659 | 11.2% |

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.

What each specialty means for a seller

What each specialty means for a seller:

- **Medical equipment**: rental and sale of medical beds, wheelchairs, home-care equipment. This is the segment for equipment manufacturers and rental companies.
- **Orthopedics and compression**: braces, compression stockings, and support belts. About 1 pharmacy in 7 in the professional directory.
- **Herbal products, aromatherapy, and organic products**: essential oils, herbal medicine, natural products. About 1 pharmacy in 7, according to both sources.
- **Homeopathy**: homeopathic product manufacturers and distributors. The share varies a lot from one source to the other.
- **Veterinary**: medicines for animals, declared by 7.5% of online map listings.
- **Delivery, vaccines, tests**: pharmacies that are widening their health services.

## 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.

Caption: 79.8% of pharmacies display no network according to our automated calculation (about 3 in 4 after review) and 16% belong to a network of 50 pharmacies or more (shares rounded). Scalon, 19,769 pharmacies found in our data, November 2, 2026. Scalon Observatory, November 2026.

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.

Share of pharmacies that display a network, by region (draw of 1,000)

| Region | Pharmacies drawn | With a network displayed | Share | Margin (points) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Île-de-France | 142 | 27 | 19.0% | 6 |
| Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 97 | 23 | 23.7% | 8 |
| Occitanie | 81 | 17 | 21.0% | 9 |
| Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 80 | 7 | 8.8% | 6 |
| Hauts-de-France | 76 | 12 | 15.8% | 8 |
| Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 70 | 10 | 14.3% | 8 |
| Grand Est | 69 | 21 | 30.4% | 11 |
| Pays de la Loire | 45 | 5 | 11.1% | 9 |
| Brittany | 41 | 8 | 19.5% | 12 |
| Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 37 | 12 | 32.4% | 15 |
| Normandy | 37 | 4 | 10.8% | 10 |
| Centre-Val de Loire | 31 | 8 | 25.8% | 15 |

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:

| Type | Networks | Pharmacies | Share of the 19,880 | Examples |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pharmacists' buying group | 5 | 1,128 | 5.7% | Pharm-UPP (593), Pharmacorp (255), Leadersanté (135), Pharmabest (101), Boticinal (44) |
| Cooperative | 3 | 763 | 3.8% | Giropharm (465), Giphar (215), Wellpharma (83) |
| Brand | 4 | 824 | 4.1% | Aprium (438), Pharmacie Lafayette (227), Hello Pharmacie (80), Univers Pharmacie (79) |
| Buying group backed by a wholesaler-distributor | 4 | 333 | 1.7% | Pharmacie Référence (166), Pharmavie (94), Pharmactiv (41), Pharmavance (32) |
| Type not established | 73 | 948 | 4.8% | Pharmacies that share a website, with no published status; Mediprix |
| No network displayed | — | 15,773 | 79.3% | Found in our data, with no network brand, website or email |
| Not found in our data | — | 111 | 0.6% | Absent from the business register and public listings |
| **Total** | **89** | **19,880** | **100%** |  |

What each type covers, and why there is neither franchise nor chain

- **Pharmacists' buying group**: a purchasing and services network. Some belong to their members (Pharm-UPP writes on its website: "1 adhérent = 1 action = 1 voix," that is, one member, one share, one vote), others to a group: Pharmacorp was bought by Hygie 31 in 2022, Boticinal belongs to the Evecial group.
- **Cooperative**: the same principle, in the form of a cooperative company. Giropharm describes itself as "a national cooperative of more than 1,600 independent pharmacists."
- **Brand**: a commercial name carried on the storefront. Aprium describes itself as "the No. 1 brand for independent pharmacists."
- **Wholesaler group**: buying groups attached to a wholesaler-distributor, such as Pharmactiv (a subsidiary of OCP) or Pharmavie (Phoenix group).

Two types are missing, for two different reasons. Franchising: none of these networks presents itself as a franchisor on the pages we read. Univers Pharmacie appears in franchise directories but describes itself as a network of affiliated independent pharmacies. We therefore count no confirmed franchise networks. Company-owned chains: the law forbids them (article L5125-11, quoted above), and the 19,879 operators for 19,880 pharmacies confirm it. A home health care provider, displayed by 39 pharmacies, is not counted as a network.

### The ten largest networks

The table of the ten largest networks

| Network | Pharmacies that display it | Type | Pharmacies claimed by the network |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pharm-UPP | 593 | Buying group | 1,200 pharmacists (website, April 30, 2025) |
| Giropharm | 465 | Cooperative | More than 1,600 (website) |
| Aprium | 438 | Brand | 500 (website) |
| Pharmacorp | 255 | Buying group | 650 federated pharmacies (Hygie31, March 2026) |
| Pharmacie Lafayette | 227 | Brand | Nearly 320 in 2024 (press release of April 1, 2025) |
| Giphar | 215 | Cooperative | Nearly 1,250 (website) |
| Pharmacie Référence | 166 | Wholesaler group | More than 700 or more than 850, depending on the page |
| Leadersanté | 135 | Buying group | More than 1,300 (group website) |
| Pharmabest | 101 | Buying group | 140 at the end of December 2025 |
| Pharmavie | 94 | Wholesaler group | 500 to 600 depending on the page (website) |

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

What the law allows: stakes and holding companies

The law limits ownership to one pharmacy per company or per pharmacist. But a pharmacist can manage several companies, and a holding company can own or manage several. Decree 2013-466 allows a pharmacist to hold equity stakes in up to four professional practice companies in addition to the one where they practice, and limits a financial holding company to stakes in three such companies. Minority shareholdings are not visible in the managers register.

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.

Pharmacies by département, FINESS registry as of November 2, 2026

| Département | Pharmacies |
| --- | --- |
| Nord | 852 |
| Paris | 846 |
| Bouches-du-Rhône | 719 |
| Rhône | 514 |
| Gironde | 505 |
| Pas-de-Calais | 465 |
| Hauts-de-Seine | 439 |
| Alpes-Maritimes | 420 |
| Haute-Garonne | 396 |
| Seine-Saint-Denis | 382 |
| Hérault | 380 |
| Loire-Atlantique | 379 |
| Val-de-Marne | 366 |
| Isère | 358 |
| Var | 355 |
| Yvelines | 353 |
| Seine-et-Marne | 343 |
| Seine-Maritime | 331 |
| Essonne | 318 |
| Val-d'Oise | 309 |
| Ille-et-Vilaine | 281 |
| Bas-Rhin | 272 |
| Finistère | 267 |
| Moselle | 256 |
| Meurthe-et-Moselle | 250 |
| La Réunion | 243 |
| Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 234 |
| Gard | 232 |
| Maine-et-Loire | 225 |
| Morbihan | 223 |
| Haute-Savoie | 219 |
| Puy-de-Dôme | 217 |
| Charente-Maritime | 210 |
| Oise | 206 |
| Vendée | 205 |
| Calvados | 201 |
| Loire | 198 |
| Vaucluse | 189 |
| Indre-et-Loire | 186 |
| Haut-Rhin | 185 |
| Somme | 181 |
| Marne | 174 |
| Côtes-d'Armor | 172 |
| Doubs | 172 |
| Loiret | 168 |
| Pyrénées-Orientales | 167 |
| Saône-et-Loire | 165 |
| Aisne | 163 |
| Guadeloupe | 157 |
| Côte-d'Or | 156 |
| Ain | 152 |
| Sarthe | 145 |
| Drôme | 143 |
| Savoie | 140 |
| Haute-Vienne | 139 |
| Vienne | 136 |
| Eure | 134 |
| Dordogne | 133 |
| Aude | 132 |
| Manche | 131 |
| Landes | 130 |
| Martinique | 127 |
| Vosges | 125 |
| Tarn | 121 |
| Allier | 119 |
| Charente | 115 |
| Deux-Sèvres | 113 |
| Lot-et-Garonne | 112 |
| Eure-et-Loir | 102 |
| Aveyron | 101 |
| Ardennes | 100 |
| Cher | 96 |
| Ardèche | 95 |
| Yonne | 95 |
| Loir-et-Cher | 93 |
| Corrèze | 89 |
| Jura | 84 |
| Haute-Saône | 82 |
| Aube | 81 |
| Orne | 81 |
| Hautes-Pyrénées | 80 |
| Indre | 78 |
| Haute-Loire | 76 |
| Mayenne | 76 |
| Nièvre | 69 |
| Tarn-et-Garonne | 69 |
| Haute-Corse | 67 |
| Cantal | 63 |
| Gers | 61 |
| Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 58 |
| Corse-du-Sud | 57 |
| Lot | 56 |
| Hautes-Alpes | 54 |
| Haute-Marne | 54 |
| Meuse | 54 |
| Guyane | 54 |
| Creuse | 50 |
| Ariège | 47 |
| Territoire de Belfort | 43 |
| Lozère | 33 |
| Mayotte | 30 |
| Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon | 1 |

What the other sources say: pharmacies by region, FINESS and the Order's map

| Region | FINESS, November 2, 2026 | Share | Order's map, October 13, 2026 | Pharmacies per 10,000 residents |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Île-de-France | 3,356 | 16.9% | 3,336 | 2.7 |
| Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 2,294 | 11.5% | 2,288 | 2.8 |
| Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 1,966 | 9.9% | 1,961 | 3.1 |
| Occitanie | 1,875 | 9.4% | 1,872 | 3.0 |
| Hauts-de-France | 1,867 | 9.4% | 1,860 | 3.1 |
| Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 1,795 | 9.0% | 1,788 | 3.4 |
| Grand Est | 1,551 | 7.8% | 1,540 | 2.8 |
| Pays de la Loire | 1,030 | 5.2% | 1,022 | 2.6 |
| Brittany | 943 | 4.7% | 943 | 2.7 |
| Normandy | 878 | 4.4% | 876 | 2.6 |
| Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 866 | 4.4% | 859 | 3.1 |
| Centre-Val de Loire | 723 | 3.6% | 723 | 2.8 |
| Réunion | 243 | 1.2% | 243 | 2.7 |
| Guadeloupe | 157 | 0.8% | 157 | 4.1 |
| Martinique | 127 | 0.6% | 125 | 3.5 |
| Corsica | 124 | 0.6% | 125 | 3.4 |
| French Guiana | 54 | 0.3% | 53 | 1.8 |
| Mayotte | 30 | 0.2% | 27 | 0.9 |
| Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon | 1 | 0.0% | — | — |
| **Total** | **19,880** | **100%** | **19,798** | **2.9** |

The per-resident figure divides FINESS pharmacies by the 2026 resident population given on the Order's map. Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (1 pharmacy) is not in any region.

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.

Details: the number of pharmacists

The number of pharmacists is a different figure. As of January 1, 2026, 55,620 pharmacists work in retail pharmacies, including 23,947 titulaires (the pharmacists who own their pharmacy, alone or through a company) in mainland France. The number of titulaires fell by 1.3% in 2025, bringing the decline since 2015 to 11.7%, or 3,173 over ten years. They are people, not pharmacies: the pharmacy profession can shrink without the network shrinking as much.

An article announcing "fewer pharmacists" is therefore not necessarily talking about fewer pharmacies. Check which unit it counts before reusing its figure.

## 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?").

Need the list of pharmacies in France? We send it with the contact details available, for the scope you choose.

## 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.

Details: their presence in online directories

Pharmacies are also widely listed in online directories. Among the 19,747 registry pharmacies identified in this review, 84% appear in a major professional directory, 78% have an active online map listing, and 73% have an online appointment booking page. Just over half of those with this public listing show a website on it.

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.

What to check in a pharmacy file

**1.** **Do not start from code 47.73Z alone.** One in three locations with that code is not a pharmacy listed in the registry (level 1).

**2.** **Check the SIRET numbers.** About 1 pharmacy in 6 in the registry carries an outdated number; the store often exists under another number.

**3.** **Deduplicate by company.** A SIREN number attached to several pharmacies in the registry is almost always a SIRET error: a company cannot own two pharmacies.

## 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.

Method details and limits

**Unit of count.** A pharmacy is an open FINESS geographic entity in category 620. The registry is exhaustive by construction: every authorized pharmacy appears in it, so the probable total is the registry total, with no adjustment. Check: the Order counts 19,990 pharmacies as of January 1, 2026, 19,798 on its map of October 13, 2026. The FINESS feed of November 6 could not be downloaded: the article publishes the one of November 2.

**Sirene register.** The Sirene register and the directories were read in the Scalon graph on November 2, 2026: latest version of each location that has carried code 47.73Z, excluding closed locations. The match with FINESS uses each pharmacy's SIRET number (10 pharmacies in the registry have none). The number of employees is the headcount bracket reported in the register for the 16,589 pharmacies whose SIRET is open; it is often reported one or two years late.

**Scalon's review.** The 50 locations coded 47.73Z outside FINESS and the 50 "parapharmacie" places outside FINESS were picked at random (with a recorded random seed) from 8,174 (the 64 locations missing from the graph are excluded) and 1,617, then read by Scalon with the Claude Haiku 5.5 model (Anthropic) on their public listings (register, public business listings, professional directories, online appointment booking pages). In each batch, Scalon reread 20 of them a second time and got the same answer 18 times. On 50 readings, a share can vary by about ten points: our directories thus count at least 200 parapharmacies without a pharmacy (about 350, between 200 and 510 at 90% confidence): this is a minimum seen in our directories, below the 671 that Les Echos Études counts in large food retail alone. The full count confirms the Sirene sample: 4,419 of the 8,238 locations outside FINESS have a directory listing; 3,819 have none, including 1,941 businesses registered in an individual's name and 288 holding companies.

**Online presence.** It covers the 19,747 pharmacies that our data linked to their SIRET at the time of this calculation (the slightly broader analysis of networks and contact details links 19,769); an existing listing that is not linked is not counted, so these shares are minimums. Opening hours and named pharmacists come from the online appointment booking pages linked to the pharmacies (for opening hours, we use the page listing the most hours).

**Revenue.** We used the most recently published financial statements for each pharmacy business (a SIREN number attached to a single pharmacy: 19,651 businesses, companies and pharmacists as sole proprietors, after setting aside 104 numbers that the registry attaches to 2 or more pharmacies, erroneous SIRET numbers). 13,310 have financial statements for a fiscal year ending in 2024 or later; 1,429 disclose revenue. Half of the 1,429 make more than €2,593,811; a quarter make less than €1,774,785 and a quarter more than €3,720,347; average revenue is €3.25M, pulled up by a few large companies (the largest: €52.4M). The top 10 make 5.8% of the combined revenue and the highest-revenue tenth of the companies accounts for 29.2%. The share of companies that publish is small: the others file a confidential income statement. The result is therefore that of the companies that choose to publish. Their average (€3.25M) exceeds those of the CGP (€2.655M) and Fiducial (€2.39M) and the sector's revenue divided across pharmacies (€2.4M): they tend to be larger than average.

**Specialties.** Main category and declared categories on the public listings read on November 6, 2026: 21,456 open listings with main category "pharmacy" (online maps), 20,632 "Pharmacie" listings in a professional directory. These figures count listings rather than individual pharmacies and provide minimum estimates based on self-reported activities.

**Pharmacies and 47.73Z.** 16,247 locations coded 47.73Z have the SIRET number of a pharmacy; 16,316 pharmacies with an open SIRET are coded 47.73Z. The gap (69) comes from SIRET numbers that the registry assigns to several pharmacies (81 shared SIRET numbers).

**Check on the network measurement.** The calculation was redone pharmacy by pharmacy on a draw of 1,000 pharmacies (fixed seed), of which 100, drawn at random, were reread based on what their listings show (name words, website, email): one blind reading by an offline language model, without our classification, then a second by Scalon, which had the classification; Scalon arbitrated. The readers saw only these extracted fields, not the public listings themselves: the review checks the classification rule, not the data collection. The draw also detects fewer networks than the full set (17.6% versus 20.2%). The two readings and our classification agree on 80 of the 100. Arbitration: 14 of the 15 pharmacies classified as in a network do display one (the 15th is uncertain); among the 85 classified as having no network, 3 display a network through their name alone, 2 a network website that the draw cannot retain, and 4 remain uncertain (including one carrying the name \"Pharmavie\", a name our rules do not use: carried by 566 listings for 220 pharmacies in the network's own locator, it proved unreliable). With the margin of a sample of 85 (Wilson 95% interval), the misses range from 1% to 16% of the pharmacies classified as having no network: the share with no network displayed is 67% to 79%, about 3 in 4.

**Independents and networks.** A pharmacy with "no network displayed" shares no brand, website or email domain with any other pharmacy; the calculation also links pharmacies with the same SIREN number (the French company ID), which changes almost nothing (one company, one pharmacy). Population: 19,769 registry pharmacies found in our data on November 2, 2026. Buying groups and brands are identified by a reproducible calculation on the pharmacies' public listings: a website shared by several pharmacies, or the same brand name; several websites or names of the same network were merged by hand, with evidence (one page per pharmacy on the group's website, or the brand name carried by the pharmacy). A pharmacy that does not display its group is not counted: these shares are minimums. An incorrectly identified network (a SIREN number linked to 10 pharmacies whose SIRET numbers are wrong in the registry) was removed: these 10 pharmacies are counted as having no displayed network. The type of each network comes from its public pages and the trade press; the numbers of pharmacies claimed are those on the networks' websites, on different dates, and cannot be compared line by line. Franchising: a search of these networks' public pages, with no result; absence is not proven for every network.

**Managers and groups.** Managers come from the business register (16,782 pharmacy companies in the managers file of November 6, 21,166 distinct people; age comes from the file of current corporate appointments dated November 2, covering 20,311 managers who are individuals). A person who manages several pharmacy companies does not necessarily own them: they may be the manager. Minority shareholdings are not visible there.

**Closures.** Closures are the closing dates in the FINESS file of November 2, 2026 over the previous 12 months; openings arrive late in it (only 16 dated 2026), so no net change is calculated.

**Limits.** The registry gives the operator, not the purchasing decision: a pharmacy that belongs to a buying group may buy through it. Publicly listed contact details provide a minimum measure of contact coverage. The commands that reproduce each figure are kept with the article.

## 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.

The full study · PDF

## The study runs to 46 pages, we will send it

Everything is on this page, and you can cite it without asking. The PDF holds the whole study, tables, figures, method and sources, in one document to keep, print or pass on. It goes out by email, right away.

1. 01Number of pharmacies: answers to common market questions
2. 02Why the number of pharmacies varies by source
3. 03How big is the pharmacy market in euros?
4. 04What is the NAF code for a pharmacy?
5. 05Market vocabulary
6. 06Level 1. The universe: 24,485 "47.73Z" locations
7. 07Level 2. The 19,880 pharmacies
8. 08Level 3. Who signs: one company, one pharmacy
9. 09Level 4. Specialties
10. 10Level 5. Independents, buying groups, and corporate groups
11. 11Level 6. Where are the pharmacies?
12. 12Is the market changing?
13. 13The pharmacy submarkets
14. 14How do you use these figures for a market study?
15. 15How do you build a pharmacy prospect list?
16. 16Frequently asked questions
17. 17Method
18. 18Key takeaways

Free, no conditions. To cite a figure, use the reference given under “Cite this study”, with Scalon and the date of the edition.

## Cite this study

The full citation, with counts

> Scalon Observatory, "Number of Pharmacies in France: 19,900 in November 2026," updated on November 6, 2026: 19,880 open pharmacies in the FINESS registry (Agence du numérique en santé, November 2, 2026), 612 of them overseas; 15,773 pharmacies with no network displayed out of 19,769 found in our data; €2.6M in revenue for half of the 1,429 companies that publish their accounts (November 6, 2026); 24,485 open locations under code 47.73Z in the Sirene register, 16,247 of which are pharmacies listed in the registry; 217 pharmacies closed in the registry in one year. [https://scalon.fr/en/observatory/number-of-pharmacies-in-france](/en/observatory/number-of-pharmacies-in-france)

## Sources

- [Synthèse des données démographiques au 1er janvier 2026, Ordre national des pharmaciens](https://www.ordre.pharmacien.fr/mediatheque/fichiers/demographie-2025-depliant-fr)
- [Synthèse des données démographiques au 1er janvier 2025, Ordre national des pharmaciens](https://www.ordre.pharmacien.fr/mediatheque/fichiers/demographie-2024-depliant-fr)
- [Carte régionale officine, mise à jour le 13/10/2026, Ordre national des pharmaciens](https://www.ordre.pharmacien.fr/je-suis/pharmacien/je-suis-pharmacien-titulaire-d-officine/mon-exercice-professionnel/les-cartes/carte-regionale-officine-mis-a-jour-le-13-10-2026)
- [Démographie pharmaceutique : une profession qui se transforme, Tous Pharmaciens n° 31, juillet 2026, Ordre national des pharmaciens](https://www.ordre.pharmacien.fr/les-communications/focus-sur/la-revue/tous-pharmaciens-la-revue-n-31-juillet-2026/demographie-pharmaceutique-une-profession-qui-se-transforme)
- [En dix ans, la pharmacie a perdu 3 173 titulaires et franchi un seuil historique, Le Moniteur des pharmacies, 23 juin 2026](https://www.lemoniteurdespharmacies.fr/profession/socio-professionnel/en-dix-ans-la-pharmacie-a-perdu-3-173-titulaires-et-franchi-un-seuil-historique)
- [Chiffre d'affaires des pharmacies, +4.5 % en 2025, GERS Data, Le Moniteur des pharmacies, 13 février 2026](https://www.lemoniteurdespharmacies.fr/business/retail/officine/chiffre-daffaires-des-pharmacies-45-en-2025)
- [Groupements : une coexistence de trois modèles, GERS Data, Le Moniteur des pharmacies, 7 novembre 2025](https://www.lemoniteurdespharmacies.fr/business/groupements/groupements-une-coexistence-de-trois-modeles)
- [Se concentrer pour mieux régner, GERS Data, Le Moniteur des pharmacies, 13 novembre 2024](https://www.lemoniteurdespharmacies.fr/business/groupements/se-concentrer-pour-mieux-regner)
- [Les pharmacies d'officine, Cour des comptes, mai 2025](https://www.ccomptes.fr/sites/default/files/2025-05/20250526-RALFSS-2025-Pharmacies-d-officine.pdf)
- [Chiffre d'affaires moyen d'une officine en 2025, CGP, présenté le 13 mars 2026, PharmaPex](https://pharmapex.fr/actualites/ebe-marge-rentabilite-pharmacie-2026-chiffres-benchmarks)
- [Chiffre d'affaires, marge, trésorerie : les chiffres de l'officine, Observatoire Fiducial, Le Moniteur des pharmacies, 10 septembre 2026](https://www.lemoniteurdespharmacies.fr/profession/socio-professionnel/chiffre-daffaires-marge-tresorerie-les-chiffres-qui-eclairent-levolution-de-lofficine)
- [Parapharmacies de la grande distribution alimentaire, Les Echos Études, octobre 2025](https://www.lesechos-etudes.fr/file/file/13177)
- [Hygie 31 ambitionne de devenir un leader de la santé en Europe, Revue Pharma, 10 mars 2026](https://www.revuepharma.fr/2026/03/avec-2-500-officines-europeennes-hygie-31-ambitionne-de-devenir-un-leader-de-la-sante-en-europe)
- [Les pharmacies mutualistes rejoignent le groupement Pharmacorp, Le Quotidien du Pharmacien, 6 novembre 2025](http://www.lequotidiendupharmacien.fr/exercice-pro/les-pharmacies-mutualistes-rejoignent-le-groupement-pharmacorp)
- [Le nombre de pharmacies a reculé de plus de 10 % en dix ans, BFMTV, 18 juin 2026](https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/economie-social/le-nombre-de-pharmacies-a-recule-de-plus-de-10-en-dix-ans-plus-de-75-000-pharmaciens-sont-en-activite-en-france-et-pourtant-les-officines-continuent-de-baisser-le-rideau_AV-202606180791.html)
- [Nombre de pharmacies en France en 2026, Salesia, 28 septembre 2026](https://salesia.fr/blog/nombre-pharmacies-france)
- [Regroupements d'officines : derrière les fermetures, la recomposition du réseau, Pharma365, 20 juillet 2026](https://pharma365.fr/je-m-informe/actualites-2/regroupements-dofficines-derriere-les-fermetures-la-recomposition-du-reseau)
- [Giphar, la coopérative](https://cooperative.giphar.fr)
- [Leadersanté, le groupe](https://www.leadersante-groupe.fr)
- [Laf Santé, réseau Pharmacie Lafayette](https://lafsante.com)
- [Pharmacie Référence Groupe](https://groupephr.fr)
- [PharmaBest, résultats 2025, communiqué du 25 février 2026](https://pharmabest.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/press/communiques/PharmaBet_R%C3%A9sultats+2025_fev26.pdf)
- [Oxypharm, une société du groupe coopératif Astera](https://astera.coop/qui-sommes-nous/les-societes-du-groupe/oxypharm/oxypharm-presentation)
- [Wellpharma](https://wellpharma.com)
- [Pharmacies : 10 % d'officines en moins en dix ans, Capital, 19 juin 2026](https://www.capital.fr/economie-politique/pharmacies-10-d-officines-en-moins-en-dix-ans-pourquoi-le-phenomene-inquiete-1527788)
- [L'indépendance professionnelle du pharmacien, Cahier thématique n° 24, Ordre national des pharmaciens](https://www.ordre.pharmacien.fr/les-communications/focus-sur/les-cahiers-thematiques/cahier-thematique-n-24-l-independance-professionnelle-du-pharmacien-une-garantie-pour-la-sante-publique/l-independance-professionnelle-dans-l-exercice-des-differents-metiers)
- [Pharm-UPP, le groupement](https://www.pharm-upp.fr)
- [Giropharm, nous rejoindre](https://www.giropharm.fr)
- [Aprium Pharmacie](https://aprium-pharmacie.fr)
- [Pharmactiv, groupement fournisseur de services pour la pharmacie](https://pharmactiv.fr)
- [Pharmavie](https://www.pharmavie.fr)
- [FINESS – Structures, fichier du 2 novembre 2026, Agence du numérique en santé, data.gouv.fr](https://www.data.gouv.fr/datasets/finess-structures-1)
- [Article L4211-1, Code de la santé publique, Légifrance](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000046126054)
- [Article L5125-11, Code de la santé publique, Légifrance](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000036408447)
- [Décret n° 2013-466 relatif aux sociétés d'exercice libéral et aux SPFPL de pharmaciens, Légifrance](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000027506830)
- [Décret n° 2025-736 du 31 juillet 2025 approuvant la NAF 2025, Légifrance](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000052019213)
- [Sous-classe 47.73Z, NAF rév. 2, Insee](https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/nafr2/sousClasse/47.73Z)
- [Sous-classe 47.73Y, NAF 2025, Insee](https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/naf2025/sousClasse/47.73Y)
- [Vers une nouvelle nomenclature : la NAF 2025, Insee](https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/8181066)
- [Entreprises et établissements actifs en 47.73Z, base Sirene du 1er novembre 2026, Sifin](https://sifin.fr/activites/47-73z)

## Do you sell to pharmacies?

Wholesaler-distributors, pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmacy software vendors, medical equipment makers: Scalon links each pharmacy to its company, its manager, its specialties, and its public contact details, and identifies the buying group or brand shown on its public listings.

[Professionals: get 100 pharmacies in my area](/en#call)

More on this topic

- [Number of doctors in France: 250,200 doctors in 2026](/en/observatory/number-of-doctors-in-france) : General practitioners and specialists in practice, from more than one source.
- [Number of Dentists in France: 50,500 Dentists in 2026](/en/observatory/number-of-dentists-in-france) : Dental surgeons counted from more than one source.
- [Number of Hospitals in France: 3,000, Clinics Included](/en/observatory/number-of-hospitals-in-france) : Public and private hospitals mapped, for anyone selling to or studying this sector.

[All studies →](/en/observatory)