Transparency International Georgia conducted a nationally representative survey between March 16th and 28th, 2016.  In total, 2032 respondents were interviewed. The fieldwork was carried out by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) .

The most important findings related to medication use are:

1. 47% of the population^[1] think that the prices of the medications which they bought most frequently in the past 12 months have increased significantly; 35% think prices rose by a small margin, 9% think prices have not changed, while 2% think their medications became cheaper.^[2]

2. On September 1st, 2014, the list of medications which require a doctor’s prescription added a number of medications. Fifty one percent of the population view the expansion of the list negatively. This is a two percentage point decline from 2015. Nine percent of the public positively assesses the change, which is also a two percentage point decline compared with 2015. Thirty nine percent of the public thinks the changes to the prescription rules had no effect on them or their family, which is a five percentage point increase compared with 2015.

3. It is interesting that 30% of people who buy medications in a specific pharmacy, go there because of the low prices. Twenty four percent report going to a specific pharmacy because it is in a convenient location, 14% because they participate in promotions or can gain bonus club points, 11% because of the quality of medicine, 11% because of the quality of service, and 4% report going to a specific pharmacy, because only that pharmacy has the medicine they need.

4. The public’s preferences when it comes to pharmacies are as follows:

^[1] We weighted the survey data, which allows us to generalize our findings to the population covered by the survey. People under the age of 18 and people within specific geographical areas did not participate in the survey. The sample is representative of the Georgian speaking population which at the time of the 2013 presidential elections was 18-85+ years old and within specific geographical areas. Hence, the survey is representative of the attitudes of 3,185,586 people. Individuals outside the geographic areas covered by the research and individuals under the age of 18 were not interviewed. We selected 2032 respondents out of the population of 3,185,586 people to achieve a demographically and geographically representative sample. The average margin of error is 3.2%.

^[2] Please note that in the charts we have rounded percentages +/- to integers to make them easier to read. Due to this, the rounded percentages may not add up to exactly 100 percent.