Ireland's drug industry is the largest net exporter of medicines in the world, shipping pharmaceutical products worth €13.3 billion annually.

The Irish market for medicines is alone worth €1.1 billion a year. The figures emerged in a new report on the industry by the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, which represents the industry.

Healthcare Facts and Figures 04/05 gives the industry's assessment of its contribution to the Irish economy and the consumption of medicines in the State.

It says the industry employs 21,000 people in Ireland.

Spending on health here has historically been low relative to other western European countries and, the association says, this remains the case, with the 2002 figure of 7.3 per cent of GDP being among the lowest among the then 15 member-states.

"One of the most interesting points to come out of the research is that, although expenditure on healthcare has more than trebled between 1996 and 2004, total expenditure of pharmaceuticals as a percentage of total healthcare expenditure, remains low," said Mr Conn Clissmann, the incoming president of the association. Medicines account for 11.5 per cent of day-to-day health expenditure.

He said Irish people spent nearly a third less than the European average on medicines. Cardiovascular treatments (21 per cent) and medications for the nervous system (18 per cent) dominate the Irish prescription drug market. In the €215 million annual non-prescription market, pain relief and cough/cold treatments account for 20 and 16 per cent respectively.