Purpose: Dissemination of generic drug (GD) use could provide significant savings on drug expenditures and contribute to the long-term sustainability of healthcare. We aimed to exhibit the nationwide trend of GD use in primary care and investigate potentially relevant drug and patient factors. Methods: We analyzed all electronic prescriptions registered to national Prescription Information System by primary care physicians in Turkey during 2013-2016. We determined GD share in quantity and cost for each year. We further analyzed GD use in terms of patients’ demographic characteristics, most commonly prescribed preparations, and frequent indications. Results: In the four-year period, we identified 518,335,821 prescriptions, where GDs constituted 54.0% (n=786,972,813) with a total cost share of 36.9-37.8%. GD use was highest in 2016 (54.4%) and lowest in 2014 (53.6%). In each year, GD prescribing was higher in women (53.7-54.7%) than men (53.4-54.1%, p<0.001). GD utilization decreased as the age group increased, which was 64.0-64.5% in <18-year-old group and 46.0-47.1% in ≥75-year-old group. Among the top ten encountered indications, highest and lowest GD prescribing was detected in acute tonsillitis (68.1%) and hypertension (33.9). Metformin had the highest percentage of GD prescribing (96.1-97.7%) whereas esomeprazole showed the lowest GD prescribing (4.5-14.8%) among the most frequently used preparations in primary care. Conclusions: This study shows a modest upward trend of GD utilization in primary care, though its share appears as lower than expected. GDs were less likely to be prescribed in older age groups and seem as more pronounced in acute conditions, particularly infectious diseases.