European Coalition on
Homeopathic & Anthroposophic
Medicinal Products
Homeopathy in Germany: used and appreciated
A new market study confirms that homeopathy continues to be used and supported by the German population – it has been used by three out of five German people and is known to the overwhelming majority of the population.
A new market study confirms that homeopathy continues to be used and supported by the German population – it has been used by three out of five German people and is known to the overwhelming majority of the population.
The study from Institut für Demoskopie (IfD) Allensbach surveyed 1,046 people aged 16 and over, representing a representative cross-section of the population.
It showed that 94% of the population know that homeopathic medicines exist, and 60% have experience of using them. Users are more likely to be female than male, with five out of ten men and seven out of ten women having used these medicines. Users are also more likely to come from West Germany than East Germany and to have a middle or higher socio-economic status.
23% of the population and 35% of users are completely convinced of the effectiveness of homeopathic medicines, and a further 51% (55%) find homeopathy partly effective. Similarly, 36% of those who have used homeopathic medicines found they were helpful, with 43% saying they were sometimes but not always helpful. This number rises to 41% of females who found the medicines helpful.
More than half the respondents (54%) had experienced the benefits of complementary medicine in a situation where conventional medicine could not help, either for themselves, their family or other people they knew. This number has gone up since 2020, when the share was 48%.
48% of the population (and 56% of women) believe that health insurance companies should continue to reimburse homeopathic medicines. 32% of the population is undecided. Even more – two thirds of the population and three quarters of women – believe that homeopathic medicinal products should continue to be sold in addition to conventional medicinal products, since people report good experiences with them, and many doctors recommend them.
On a less positive note, confidence in natural medicine practitioners has declined in the last twenty years, with 66% of the population now believing that some natural medicine practitioners dishonestly claim medical skills or knowledge. This compares to to 54% about 20 years ago.