Abstract : Prescribing pattern indicating rational level of drug use. Rational drug use is essential to optimize quality of healthcare delivery in health system. This study aims to assess the prescribing patterns in primary health care or hospital in developing countries. A systematic review was performed on articles from PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar during the period 2008-2018. A combination key terms such as “prescribing patterns, core drug use indicator, WHO, primary care, hospital” was used for the search. Original articles published in English and reported prescribing pattern in primary health care or hospital were the inclusion criteria. There were 21 articles included in the review. The review results show that in developing countries prescribing indicators are still far from the standard recommended by WHO. Provision of drugs to patients in one prescription is still around 3-6 drugs, the use of antibiotics is still very excessive, as well as the use of injection preparations. In addition, the use of generic drugs and suitability of EML is still much less than 100%. This makes the use of drugs in health facilities to be irrational. As the result, the use of drugs in health facilities becomes expensive. Our review indicated that prescribing indicator in core drug use indicators for primary health care facilities are substantial to ensure that the treatment we provide to patients was safe, effective and rational