Aesthetic Procedures by Country in Europe: Demand and Rules
If you are choosing a country to practise aesthetics in, two things matter: how much work is already done there, and whom the law allows to do it. The 2025 ISAPS Global Survey gives figures for 51 locations [1]. Who may inject is set by each country's own law.
Among seven European countries, Italy, Türkiye and France report the most procedures, Spain sits in the middle, and Norway, Lithuania and Finland report far fewer. The survey counts only plastic surgeons, though, so where other doctors, dentists or nurses may also inject, part of the injectable work never appears in its figures.
Italy, Türkiye and France report the most procedures
For procedures performed by plastic surgeons in 2025, the survey gives Italy 1,477,556, Türkiye 1,318,980, France 714,945, Spain 431,183, Norway 80,401, Lithuania 69,174 and Finland 66,164. Germany, for scale, stands at 1,525,462 [1].
Read these as orders of magnitude, not counts. Each is a projection from the surgeons who answered a questionnaire, scaled up by an estimate of how many plastic surgeons practise in the country: 2,188 in Italy, 1,900 in Türkiye, 1,050 in France and 951 in Spain [1]. None of them comes from a register.
The injectable share shows what the survey can see
The countries differ more in their mix than in their size. Non-surgical procedures make up 61 per cent of the Italian figure, 58 per cent of the Finnish, 52 per cent of the French and 45 per cent of the Lithuanian. In Türkiye they are 40 per cent, in Spain 37 per cent and in Norway 18 per cent. These shares are calculated from the report's own totals rather than printed in it [1].
A low share does not mean a small market for injectables. Where other professions may lawfully inject, plastic surgeons do less of that work, and the survey sees less of it. The plausible reading of Norway's 18 per cent, and it is reasoning rather than a survey finding, is that injectables there are largely given outside plastic surgery.
National law decides who may inject
Sweden, which the survey does not report separately, shows how a country can settle the question in writing. Its 2021 Act allows aesthetic injection treatments to be performed by a licensed doctor, dentist or nurse. It sets a minimum age of 18 and requires information given both orally and in writing, followed by a period of reflection before consent [3].
Moving country raises a second question. Directive 2005/36/EC governs how a professional qualification gained in one member state is recognised in another [4]. It does not decide which acts a profession may perform once recognised; that stays national. Norway applies the Directive through the European Economic Area. Türkiye is outside both, and recognition there is a matter for Turkish law.
A one-year change is not a trend
National figures move in ways markets do not. The Spanish non-surgical total was 285,300 in the previous report and is 157,391 in this one, while Norwegian surgical procedures went from 40,164 to 65,916 [1][2]. A country's demand does not fall by almost half, or grow by almost two thirds, in twelve months. A sample of respondents can.
Lithuania and Finland were not reported separately the year before [2]. They now have a figure, but not yet a trend.
How to compare countries before choosing one
- Read the split before the total. The non-surgical share tells you how much of a country's injectable work the survey could see.
- Find the statute. Who may inject is either written in national law, as in Sweden, or conspicuously not written down anywhere. Both answers are information.
- Check recognition and scope separately. Having your qualification recognised does not tell you which treatments you may perform; the national rules do.
- Wait for the second figure. One year of national data may reflect who answered the questionnaire more than what patients asked for.
Before you settle on a country, find out which treatments its law allows your profession to perform and on what conditions, and learn those under supervision before you offer them.