I investigated Brazil's obsession with Pharmacies

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]I've never seen so many pharmacies in my life. I mean, I'm standing on a street in the city of Porto Alegre in the south of Brazil, and just on this one road, there are five pharmacies. And behind me are two pharmacies located right next to each other, and they both sell the same things. This one is called Panvel, and the other one's called Sao Miguel, and they are two of the biggest chains of pharmacies here in the south of Brazil.

[00:00:25]But in about 20 m away, you've got another two pharmacies. One's called LS Farmacias, and then another one called Farmacia Here Achievo. And they're two small independent pharmacies, so they're not part of a big chain of pharmacies.

[00:00:38]And then if you walk about 50 m in the other direction, you get to a small shopping mall called Shopping Moinhos.

[00:00:44]And guess what you'll find in that shopping mall? Another Panvel pharmacy.

[00:00:48]And then I went on Google Maps to see the total number of pharmacies in this neighborhood, so Moinhos de Vento, and I counted 24 pharmacies just in this one small neighborhood in Porto Alegre. And then I asked Google Gemini how many pharmacies there are in the whole city of Porto Alegre, and it said there are between 700 and 900 pharmacies. And then I asked it how many pharmacies there are in the whole of Brazil, and it said there are about 120,000 pharmacies in Brazil. So then if you compare that to the US, it said there is about 118,000 in the US. So then some of you are probably thinking, "Ah, it's not a big deal. It's about the same between the two countries." But you have to remember there's a lot more people in the US than in Brazil. So the population of the US is around 342 million people compared to 213 million people in Brazil, which means that the density of pharmacies in Brazil is a lot higher. And actually, it's one of the highest in the world.

[00:01:44]And when I was driving around and I saw these pharmacies, I asked my Brazilian wife, "Why are there so many pharmacies here in Brazil?" And I said it even looks a bit suspicious. Is there some sort of mafia or something involved here? Because I'm seeing pharmacies right next to each other, and every street corner there's a pharmacy as well. Surely not all of these pharmacies can make enough money to survive. And my wife said, "Well, I think they do.

[00:02:07]Brazilians love to go to the pharmacy and spend lots of money, and they buy medications, but many other things as well." And I thought to myself, "Yeah, that kind of makes sense, but surely there must be more to it than that." And that's why I decided to do this video and investigate what really is going on with all these pharmacies in Brazil. And the first reason that explains why there are so many pharmacies in Brazil is like my wife said, and that is that there's this cultural thing here in Brazil to go to the pharmacy a lot and buy medication. So I spoke to Brazilian family members and friends and asked them how often they went to the pharmacies and how much stuff they bought, and then I compared that to a family and friends in Sweden and other European countries. And my conclusion was that Brazilians definitely go to the pharmacy a lot more. Because in Sweden, you've got this culture that if there's something wrong with you, you're a bit ill, then you try and tough it out yourself without going to a doctor or a pharmacy. Maybe you take a paracetamol or something. But only if it's really bad and you're nearly dying do you go to see a doctor and ask for some medications. But it's also, I think, due to the fact that it's a bit more difficult to go and see a doctor in Sweden than it is here in Brazil.

[00:03:15]Because in Sweden, nearly everyone uses the public health system, and in order to book an appointment with a a GP, a doctor, then you might have to wait days, or maybe even more than a week in order to see that doctor. And if it's more urgent than that, then you have to go to the hospital and sit there for potentially hours waiting to to see a doctor. Now, in Brazil, you also have a public health system, and it depends where you are how good it is, but where I live, there's a a drop-in clinic, and I can go there, and within half an hour I can see a doctor, and he'll prescribe me some medication. And if you have private health insurance, again, it depends on which health insurance you have and where you live, but where I live, I can see a private GP on the same day using my health insurance. And I've noticed that since I arrived in Brazil, I go and see a doctor a lot more, and every time I go and see a doctor, they always prescribe me with some sort of medication, and I end up going to the pharmacy and buying it. And yeah, I definitely spend a lot more pharmacies here in Brazil than I used to back in Sweden. Okay, and then another reason why there's more pharmacies in Brazil is due to the fact that you can buy a lot more medications without a prescription in Brazil. So if you're feeling a bit unwell, but it's difficult or you just don't want to go to the doctor, then maybe you don't actually have to, because you can go to the pharmacy, talk to them how you're feeling, and they can suggest some medications for you to take, and you don't need a doctor's prescription to buy them. And this is very different to Sweden and many other European countries. You can only buy a very limited number of medications without a prescription. I mean, I remember going to pharmacies in Sweden and saying, "Oh, I've got this pain."

[00:04:57]And usually what they say is, "Drink plenty of water, maybe take an aspirin, and if that doesn't solve it, go and see a doctor." And that's basically all they're allowed to say, because the rest needs to be dealt with by a doctor. And that's definitely not the case in Brazil. And and I was shocked when I went to pharmacies here in Brazil and the amount of medications I could buy without any prescriptions. Mostly antibiotics and very strong painkillers, you need prescription. But the rest of the stuff you can just go and and buy it whenever you want. And so this convenience of being able to buy medications very easily kind of encourages people in Brazil to self-medicate a bit, and again, the pharmacies make money. Okay, and another reason why there are so many pharmacies is the fact that pharmacies can sell so many other things apart from medications here in Brazil.

[00:05:44]And Brazilian pharmacies in general quite big.

[00:05:47]Um so when you enter, there's lots of products. Usually a medication is at the far end, so you have to walk past all these products that they're trying to sell you. And yeah, the pharmacy sell similar things to Swedish pharmacies.

[00:06:01]So hair care, skin care, dental care, diapers and baby formulas. And you have most of these products in pharmacies in Sweden as well.

[00:06:11]But then some Brazilian pharmacies, they sell lots of other things as well which I've never seen in a pharmacy before. So I mean, they sell food. And I'm not talking about, you know, some health foods or cereal bars or something. I'm talking about things like pasta, rice, beans, canned vegetables, ketchup, mayonnaise, cereal, and crisps and chocolate bars and many other things.

[00:06:38]And then they sell laundry detergent, washing up liquid, and other cleaning supplies to clean your house. And then even more random things. So this pharmacy sells some shoes here, and a bag of charcoal for a barbecue, and that's been placed on a beach chair which you can buy as well. And behind there, you can see it's got a shelf with toys as well.

[00:06:59]And then next to it is an air fryer, portable heater to heat your house, and then lots of toilet paper. Oh, and here there's more as well. So there's a frying pan, food processor, and some bread toasters as well.

[00:07:13]So it's unbelievable what you can find in this pharmacy. Now, the range isn't very good, so you're probably asking yourself, "Why would anyone come here and buy these things when you could go to a supermarket or other retailer which has a much better range of products?"

[00:07:27]And one of the reasons is the fact that these pharmacies, they're open 7 days a week. Some are even open 24 hours a day.

[00:07:34]So when supermarkets and other stores are closed, you can go to these pharmacies and still buy what you need.

[00:07:40]And I've done this many times. So it's really late in the evening, supermarkets are closed, and I've run out of something to make dinner, then I just go to the pharmacy and buy it there. And also I remember one time we were going to go see some friends on a Sunday, and my wife said it would be good to bring a little present for their son, which we hadn't bought. And I said, "Well, it's Sunday, what are we going to do?" And my wife was like, "Oh, just stop at the pharmacy." Like, "What? We're going to buy the kid some paracetamol as a present?" And she said, "No, no, no, the pharmacy has toys." And yeah, we stopped at the pharmacy, and in there they had an okay range of toys, and so we bought something there, and they even had wrapping paper, and we bought the present. And so these pharmacies earn a lot of money selling these products when the normal stores and supermarkets are shut. Okay, and another reason why there are so many pharmacies in Brazil is because supermarkets here in Brazil sell very little medications. So I mean, if you go to a supermarket in Brazil, you won't find painkillers or paracetamol, ibuprofen.

[00:08:40]Uh also supplements, vitamins, they're usually very limited in supermarkets.

[00:08:44]And so really, if you want to buy those, you have to go to a pharmacy. And this is how pharmacies are a lot in Brazil to force people to go to the pharmacies to buy their medications there rather than the supermarket. While in many countries in Europe and the US, you can go to a supermarket and buy basic medications there. Now, very recently, the Brazilian government passed a law which allowed some medications to be sold in supermarkets, but they need to have a special pharmacy area with a pharmacist in the supermarket. But let's see what happens. Maybe the supermarkets will start taking a share of the sales from the pharmacies, and they might start to suffer a bit. But I would say that the big pharmacy chains, they'll probably start negotiating with the supermarkets and come up with some deal where they put the pharmacy in the supermarket or something. So I'd say this is probably going to affect more the small independent local pharmacies rather than the big chains. Okay, and another reason why there are so many pharmacies is due to Farmacia Popular. So this is a government scheme which offers certain medications for free or at a subsidized price.

[00:09:59]So, this covers hypertension, diabetes, asthma, cholesterol, Parkinson's, and many other things. And so, people with a low income can apply to get these medicines for free, and then go to the pharmacies to collect this medication, and then this government scheme pays the pharmacies. And so, again, this means that lots of people go to the pharmacies to collect their medication, and then while they're there, they might buy a few other things at the pharmacy. And again, the pharmacies make money.

[00:10:30]And then finally, another reason why there are so many pharmacies in Brazil is the fact that online shopping is still not that common.

[00:10:37]So, in many other countries we've seen pharmacies shutting down, especially in the US, we've seen Walgreens and Boots reducing the number of stores they have.

[00:10:47]And one of the reasons why this is happening is that people are buying more and more of their medications, and supplements, and other things online, rather than going to the pharmacy. Now, online shopping is growing in Brazil, and some pharmacies are offering services where you get your prescription online, and you click on the button, and you order from the pharmacy, and they deliver it to you. But still, online shopping is very small compared to other countries. And so, Brazilians like to go to the pharmacy to buy their product, or they might call the pharmacy, or send a WhatsApp, order the medications, and then get it delivered. But that's all done with the local physical pharmacy shop, rather than with a a separate 100% online pharmacy company. And let's see what happens, but maybe online sales will keep growing, and maybe some of these pharmacy chains will start closing some stores, and focusing more on online. Okay, so, those are the reasons why there are so many pharmacies here in Brazil. And like I said, when I arrived in Brazil, I was shocked at the number of pharmacies. I thought it was crazy.

[00:11:52]And since I've been here in Brazil, I've only seen the number of pharmacies increasing even more. And eventually, I think these big pharmacy chains will start closing down some stores, in the same way it's been happening in the US and Europe. So, I hope you like this video. Please leave a like, subscribe.

[00:12:08]If you've got any comments, leave them in the comment section below. So, thanks for watching. Until next time.