In Japan, within the background of a progressively aging society, a community general support system is gradually being established. Under this system, community pharmacists are expected to expand their activities in local communities. Here, we surveyed the distribution of community pharmacists in Japan by using government statistics. We found that there are 153 towns/villages without community pharmacists, which is about six times the number of towns without physicians (26 towns/villages). The number of community pharmacists per 100000 population was correlated with the population of the municipality. There was a significant difference in the number of community pharmacists per 100000 population between depopulated and non-depopulated areas. A multiple regression analysis revealed that population, financial capability index, and number of physicians per 100000 population were positively associated with the number of community pharmacists per 100000 population in a given municipality. We hope that the survey provides useful information about future issues facing community pharmacy in a community general support system.
Keywords: community pharmacist; depopulated area; distribution; government statistics.