"Unilever’s personal & home hygiene products reach ≈1.3bn people, improving well-being globally."

Personal hygiene (oral, body and hand-washing) prevents germs that cause infectious diseases like diarrhea, covid19, trachoma, tooth decay, etc¹. Similarly, home hygiene (surfaces, towels) prevents the spread of germs in living spaces². A 2020 study found improved hygiene reduces the risk of common infections by 50% and the need for antibiotics by 30%, helping to prevent deaths from antimicrobial resistance³.

Unilever’s products are accessible at 25M retail stores across 190+ countries, reaching 2.5bn people/day^4;p12, 31.6% of the world’s population⁵. During the pandemic and to serve online shoppers, Unilever increased its eCommerce accessibility by 61%^4;p24.

Unilever runs 3 divisions: Beauty & Personal Care (B&P); Home Care (HC); and Food^4;p3. The first two, hygiene-related, make 62% of the firm’s turnover (€31.6bn)^4;p3. Through both divisions’ brands, Unilever seeks to improve health and well-being by way of, inter alia, hand hygiene, sanitation and oral health^4;p11. For instance, since 2010, B&P’s soap brand Lifebuoy has reached 1+bn people with handwashing campaigns, and since 2012, HC’s brand Domestos helped 29M people access better sanitation^4;p31.

B&P offers deodorants, hair and skincare products through brands like Axe, Lux and Dove^4;p3. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, B&P expanded its hand hygiene items into 76 new markets to better meet consumers’ needs^4;p20. B&P’s products reach 1bn+ people/day⁶.

HC offers home-hygiene solutions^4;p3such as disinfecting surface cleaners under brands like Domestos; and laundry disinfection under brands like Persil, available in 55 countries^4;p23. HC does not disclose its daily reach^{7 4;p2-3}. However, since 2010, U’s products (B&P and HC) have improved the health and hygiene of 1.3bn people^4;p3.

Oriented towards consumers’ needs, Unilever’s hygiene products for personal and home care massively reach ≈1.3bn people/day, improving health and well-being worldwide.

Make sure you login to rate the impact described in the article.