Many Germans do not take good health for granted. Only one in three Germans feels absolutely fit, one in five describes his/her state of health in the last year as more or less bad. And over half the interviewed people feel under pressure not to become ill: almost one in two believes he/she cannot afford to take time off because of illness; amongst those in employment it is as high as 64%.

Dealing with illness

Autonomy vs delegation to a physician
Many Germans do not depend solely on the physician in case of illness, but instead take on responsibility for their own health, where self-medication plays a significant role. 44% do not go straight to the doctor if they do not feel well, 62% think that they know best what will help them. One in five already takes medicine to get themselves through the day. However, self-medication is also used for prevention: almost one in four takes non-prescription medicine on a regular basis in order to stay fit and healthy.


On the other hand, 62% of Germans think it is dangerous to take medicine without consulting a doctor beforehand.

self-medication types

...19% of all Germans can be described as "healthy muscular types"
The interviewees were able to be divided into six different "types" according to cluster-analytical psychological characteristics that are especially related to the self-medication market. By means of these market specific consumer typologies, self-medication behaviour in Germany can be psychologically characterised for the first time:

	19% of Germans can be described as "healthy muscular types". The typical healthy muscular type feels fit, relies on self-healing powers above all and mostly buys classic medicaments.
	The "uncritical whiner" (9.9% of Germans) acts totally differently: s/he laments about bad health and also often about the fact that doctors cannot find out what is wrong although s/he feels ill. The "uncritical whiner" often buys self-medication products in an aimless and spontaneous way.
	The "informed physically aware" (15.7%) are characterised by an especially high level of interest and feeling of competence when it comes to health questions. S/he doses him/herself in a conscious way and is more sceptical towards orthodox medicine.
	The "faith in doctor conservatives" (19.2%) on the other hand strongly depend on a physician?s judgement and reject self-medication as being dangerous. If s/he reaches for the medicine chest then it will only be for traditional, tried-and-tested products.
	The "limited health insurance patient" (18.6%) pays attention to price above all and buys on average fewer self-medication products. At the same time s/he is not really interested in the issue and ascribes himself little competence.
	Finally, the "sceptical refuser" (18.6%) strongly distrusts any form of treatment and more or less does not take any medicine.

Further topics covered by the study

Besides the general attitudes towards self-medication the study contains a wide spectrum of information on

	Personality variables
	Need for information and requirements in terms of advice
	Consumption and purchasing frequency of individual groups of medication and supplements
	Media use and
	Socio-demographics

that can also be evaluated e.g. in addition to the analyses according to consumer types, upon request also according to certain users of particular products. Operative implementation in direct marketing; micro-geographical linking

The interview results were linked to the neighbourhood data and the additional socio-demographic information from the micro-geographical database ?Mikrotyp? from pan-adress Direktmarketing Gesellschaft mbH, and thus can be localised at the finest tuned level (units of at least five households).

The research results contain a wealth of interesting and topical market research data. Producers of OTC and self-medication products additionally receive a new tool for target group-specific marketing planning thanks to the typologies and their micro-geographic links. The marketing mix can be strategically aligned with the targeted customer type. In addition to the micro-geographic link, it is possible to get connected to actual target group addresses.