Unilever facts

Business facts & figures

• Our products are sold in more than 190 countries with 2 billion consumers worldwide using a Unilever product on any given day.

• Our underlying sales growth in 2011 was 6.5% – with emerging markets accounting for nearly 55% of our business.

• We have more than 50 years' experience of working in Brazil, China, India and Indonesia.

• Acquisitions, such as Alberto Culver – our biggest in ten years – added more than 1% to our turnover in 2011.

• Dove became our first €3 billion Personal Care brand in 2011.

• More than 171,000 people work for Unilever.

• The number of women in senior positions rose from 23% in 2007 to 28% in 2011.

• Project Shakti – our distribution programme in India – has created opportunities for 45,000 female entrepreneurs to sell our products in rural areas, reaching over 100,000 villages in 2011.

• In South Africa, our Indonsa factory, opened in Durban in 2011, produces savoury brands such as Knorr and is ‘water neutral’, using rainwater harvesting and recycling techniques that avoid taking water from the local community.

• Progress against our Sustainable Living Plan in 2011 includes: reaching 34.5 million people through our Lifebuoy brand’s handwashing programmes, reducing our greenhouse gases to 117.41kg energy per tonne of production, and purchasing 64% of the palm oil we use from sustainable sources.