Ethiopia Pharmaceutical Market 2026: Size, Imports & Trends
How big is Ethiopia's pharmaceutical market? Measured 2026 numbers for medicines, medical devices and diagnostics: importing companies, suppliers, growth, top categories and supplier countries.
- Growth 2025 vs 2024
- +6%
- Importers
- 1,505
- Suppliers
- 991
- Supplier countries
- 57
How big is Ethiopia's pharmaceutical market?
Measured by what actually crosses the border, Ethiopia's market for medicines and medical devices involves 1,505 importing companies and traders (905 of them registered companies), buying from 991 foreign suppliers and 1,845 manufacturers in 57 countries. HealthTrade Data tracks 1,039 products across 19,430 import records with product details since 2022.
Imports grew 6% in 2025 compared with 2024. Most published market-size figures are forecasts in US dollars; the numbers here are counts of real imports, so they show where demand is and how it moves, not the market's value.
Key findings
- 1Imports of medicines, medical devices and diagnostics grew 6% in 2025 compared with 2024.
- 2Medicines: imports grew 5% in 2025, with 807+ importing companies.
- 3Medical devices: imports grew 7% in 2025, with 925+ importing companies.
- 4India (38%) and China (38%) supply most of Ethiopia's medicines and medical devices; 57 countries in total.
- 5The fastest-growing category was sterilization & infection control (61% more imports in 2025).
- 61,505 importers were active since 2022, 905 of them registered companies.
- 7Among established products, Cephalexin grew fastest: +180% in 2025.
Journalists and researchers are welcome to quote these figures with a link to this page as the source.
Medicines
Antibiotics, cardiovascular, diabetes, vaccines, fluids and every other pharmaceutical imported into Ethiopia.
- Growth 2025 vs 2024
- +5%
- Importing companies
- 807+
- Suppliers
- 287+
- Products
- 380
Medical devices
Hospital equipment, imaging, surgical and consumables, plus diagnostics (IVD): reagents, rapid tests and lab analysers.
- Growth 2025 vs 2024
- +7%
- Importing companies
- 925+
- Suppliers
- 543+
- Products
- 659
Diagnostics (IVD)
Reagents, rapid tests and laboratory analysers, counted within medical devices
- Growth 2025 vs 2024
- +0%
- Importing companies
- 534
- Suppliers
- 243
- Products
- 1,152
Fastest-growing categories in 2025
Change in imports vs 2024
- Sterilization & infection control · Medical devices+61%
- Contrast media & radiopharmaceuticals · Medicines+58%
- Reproductive & maternal health · Medicines+43%
- Eye & ear · Medicines+26%
- Ophthalmic, ENT & hearing · Medical devices+21%
- Orthopaedic & implants · Medical devices+18%
- Hospital furniture & general equipment · Medical devices+17%
- Oncology & immunology · Medicines+16%
Fastest-growing products in 2025
Products imported at least 15 times in 2024
- Cephalexin · Medicines+180%
- Diagnostic Kit for The Detection of Hepatitis B Core Antibody · Medical devices+132%
- Co-amoxiclav · Medicines+128%
- Gentamicin · Medicines+124%
- Amoxicillin · Medicines+113%
- Furosemide · Medicines+90%
- Otoscope · Medical devices+71%
- Ondansetron · Medicines+64%
- Cefixime · Medicines+63%
- Cefepime · Medicines+60%
Supplier countries
Most active importing companies
Get access to see all 1,505 importers, their volumes, suppliers and prices.
Methodology
We count import records that carry product details, grouped by the year of the import. Products are grouped by generic name, merging salt forms and spelling variants, and assigned to categories by HealthTrade Data's classifier. Growth compares the last two full calendar years. Records measure how often a product is imported, not its value or volume.
HealthTrade Data market database: import records with product details, 2022 to date. Counts are companies and import records, not value. Diagnostics (IVD) are counted with medical devices, as Ethiopian regulation classifies them.
Go deeper than the headline numbers
Every importer by name, with prices, volumes and suppliers, for medicines and medical devices, in HealthTrade Data.