Since 2023, demand for antidepressants in Ukraine has risen sharply

From 2023 to 2025, demand for antidepressants in Ukraine increased significantly: over that period it rose by 72%. At the same time, Ukrainians began buying fewer sleeping pills and sedatives, which suggests they are choosing long-term therapy rather than one-off “quick fixes” for mental health problems.

These conclusions follow from data published by the Liki24 service.

On a year-over-year basis, demand for antidepressants rose by 25%, and over the 2023–2025 period it increased by 72%. In 2024, demand for this category grew by 46% compared with 2023, and in 2025 the positive trend continued.

By contrast, people bought other psychotropic medications less often:

• demand for nootropics (for memory and attention) fell by 30% compared with 2024;
• demand for sedatives fell by 29%;
• demand for sleeping pills fell by 31%.

Tranquilizers are also losing popularity: demand in this category dropped by about 35% compared with 2024.

Against the backdrop of an overall decline, antipsychotics remained relatively stable: demand decreased by only 10%. Drugs intended to support the central nervous system lost 18% in demand.

“This is an encouraging signal: we see that people are more often choosing systematic treatment rather than one-time solutions,” said Anton Avrynskyi, the service’s founder.

As for the overall contents of the “pharmacy basket,” it has barely changed in recent years. The most popular categories remain painkillers, blood pressure medications, treatments for joint and muscle pain, as well as seasonal medicines.

Two years ago, the World Health Organization estimated that around 10 million residents of Ukraine are at risk of mental health disorders.