Study: global cannabis sales to reach $51 billion by 2025

A recent report by New Frontier Data, a U.S.-based cannabis market research and analysis institute, estimates that global legal cannabis sales will reach $51 billion by 2025.

The report « Global Cannabis Report: Growth & Trends Through 2025″. provides a comprehensive overview of how the global cannabis industry will evolve over the next few years, while analyzing current and future trends in North America, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Oceania, Asia and Africa.

New legal markets

«When we published our first report on the global cannabis industry in 2019, it was clear that cannabis legalization would prove to be one of the most consequential socio-economic movements of our time,» writes Giadha A. DeCarcer, founder of New Frontier Data.

«In just two years, the number of countries that have legalized some form of cannabis has risen from 50 to 70, and there are now 10 countries legalizing adult-use, almost twice as many as in 2019. As legal markets around the world continue to evolve, we've found that regulatory structures and societal norms vary considerably, and that each country, region and market requires a nuanced approach to quantifying, qualifying and understanding them.»

The report states that in 2020, legal markets sold $23.7 billion worth of cannabis products, and the combined total of medical and recreational cannabis sales in the U.S. was $20.3 billion. In comparison, the Canada saw approximately US$2 billion of products of high-THC cannabis sold in 2020. The steady growth of cannabis in the USA and Canada could lead to an increase in sales to $51 billion by 2025 (44 billion euros).

Outside North America, however, cannabis sales were lower overall, but still on the rise. L’Germany hosts Europe's largest cannabis program To date, and in 2020, the country has collected 177 million euros.

Like the USA, cannabis is not legal at federal level in Spain, but the country's various provinces have various regulations on cannabis sales. In 2019, cannabis clubs in the country reached $431 million, making Spain a contender to become one of the world's biggest industries, behind the USA and Canada.

Development of medical cannabis

On a global scale, New Frontier Data indicates that the main force behind legalization efforts is due to medical cannabis initiatives. However, each country approaches the concept differently. Many European countries have adopted the pharmaceutical route, which allows patients to obtain their cannabis-based medicines from a pharmacy.

In Latin American countries where sales are legal, programs have been set up by private clinics and doctors who can prescribe cannabis. The number of medical cannabis patients continues to rise worldwide, due to easier access to medicines. By 2020, an estimated 4.4 million people were registered as active medical cannabis patients worldwide. A further two million patients are expected to register for medical cannabis over the next 5 years, which could increase the number of people treating themselves with cannabis to 6.5 million by 2025.

Sales of recreational cannabis are also expected to double those of medical cannabis by 2025. On the recreational front, only ten countries have legal access to cannabis for adults, six of which have approved the sale of products with high THC content.

Many of these regions are just beginning to implement their programs. The Netherlands and Spain have adopted a «decriminalized club/social use» model, while South Africa and Jamaica have approved limited access for religious groups. Uruguay, for its part, fully legalized recreational cannabis in 2013 and sold over 1,700 kilograms of high-THC products.