As Statista's Anna Fleck shows in the following chart shows, nearly 6,000 pharmaceutical crime incidents were recorded by the nonprofit in 2021, up 38 percent from the year before and the peak figure since their records began 20 years ago.

In terms of the geographical distribution of counterfeit pharmaceutical seizures, the greatest number was recorded in North America (2,442) followed by the Asia Pacific (1,747), Latin America (770), the Near East (705), Eurasia (646), Europe (374) and Africa (187). This order is largely due to how well countries in these regions are effectively identifying pharmaceutical crime through law enforcement activity and inspections by drug regulatory agencies. As the PSI notes, competing law enforcement priorities, lack of funding, or inadequate regulatory structures can mean that counterfeit medicines go undetected.