As of 2022, the number of licensed physicians in the United States and the District of Columbia amounted to 1,062,460 physicians. At the time, the national population was roughly 333 million, which yielded a physician-to-population ratio of 313 licensed physicians per 100,000 population. The density of licensed U.S. physicians has steadily increased since 2010.

This statistic displays the average physician-to-population ratio in select U.S. metropolitan areas as of 2013. During this year, there was an average of ***** physicians per 100,000 population in Detroit. Boston has one of the overall highest average wait times for a physician appointment. The average cumulative wait time is approximately **** days in 2014, which has decreased since 2004.

Health professionals, especially primary care physicians, are in high demand in many parts of the U.S. Some areas are experiencing health professional shortages. This map shows the ratio of population to primary care physicians in the U.S. Areas in dark red show where there are less primary care physicians per person.The data comes from County Health Rankings, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, measure the health of nearly all counties in the nation and rank them within states. The layer used in the map comes from ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, and the full documentation for the layer can be found here.County data are suppressed if, for both years of available data, the population reported by agencies is less than 50% of the population reported in Census or less than 80% of agencies measuring crimes reported data.

In 2018 the largest percentage of physicians saw between ** and ** patients per day. Just ***% of physicians saw between ** and ** patients per day during that year. When doctors face a high patient burden on a daily basis, research indicates that burn out or medical malpractice could be a result. Physician time with patients Physicians and patient time is an important part of a medical relationship. Among all practices, a majority of physicians spent between ** and ** minutes with patients. A lack of time between patients and physicians can also lead to patient mistrust. A recent survey indicated that just around half of patients trusted that their doctor prescribed drugs for them because it was the best possible product for them at the time. Burn out among physicians Another consequence of high patient burdens could be burnout. A large majority of physicians have had feelings of burnout in recent years. Different physician specialties have different levels of burnout. The top three specialties for burn out in recent years were urology, neurology and physical medicine/rehabilitation. Among the major causes of burnout among U.S. physicians, over *** third of physicians indicated that spending too many hours was a primary factor that causes burnout.

The distribution of physicians across the United States reveals significant disparities, with California leading the pack at nearly ******* active doctors as of January 2025. This concentration of medical professionals in populous states highlights the ongoing challenge of ensuring adequate healthcare access nationwide. The stark contrast between California's physician count and Wyoming's mere ***** doctors underscores the need for targeted efforts to address healthcare workforce shortages in less populated areas. Primary care and specialist distribution California's dominance in the medical field extends beyond overall physician numbers. The state leads in both primary care physicians and specialists, accounting for over ** percent of each category nationally. This concentration of medical expertise in California reflects broader trends, with New York and Texas following as the states with the highest numbers of active primary care physicians. The distribution of specialists also mirrors national patterns, with psychiatry, surgery, and anaesthesiology among the most common specialties. Physician burnout While the number of physicians continues to grow, physician burnout remains a significant issue. There are large variations in rates of burnout depending on a physician's gender and specialty. For example, burnout is disproportionally high among women, affecting ** percent of female physicians and ** percent of male physicians. Meanwhile, emergency medicine physicians reported the highest levels of burnout among specialists, highlighting the need for targeted interventions to support the individual needs of doctors depending on their different circumstances.

The average for 2020 based on 18 countries was 3.93 doctors per 1,000 people. The highest value was in Austria: 5.35 doctors per 1,000 people and the lowest value was in the United Kingdom: 3.03 doctors per 1,000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This statistic depicts the countries with the lowest physicians density average worldwide for the period 2007-2016. As of that year, Niger was one of the countries with the lowest number of physicians per inhabitants. The African country was reported to have 0.0 physicians per 1,000 inhabitants.

Data on visits to physician offices, hospital outpatient departments and hospital emergency departments by selected population characteristics. Please refer to the PDF or Excel version of this table in the HUS 2019 Data Finder (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/contents2019.htm) for critical information about measures, definitions, and changes over time. Note that the data file available here has more recent years of data than what is shown in the PDF or Excel version. Data for 2017 physician office visits are not available. SOURCE: NCHS, National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. For more information on the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, see the corresponding Appendix entries at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus17_appendix.pdf.

The average for 2020 based on 2 countries was 3.67 doctors per 1,000 people. The highest value was in Australia: 3.9 doctors per 1,000 people and the lowest value was in New Zealand: 3.43 doctors per 1,000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Graph and download economic data for Producer Price Index by Commodity: Health Care Services: All Other Patients: Physician Care (WPU51110105) from Jun 2014 to May 2025 about physicians, healthcare, health, services, commodities, PPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

United States US: Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 2.568 Ratio in 2014. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.554 Ratio for 2013. United States US: Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 1.900 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2014, with 39 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.704 Ratio in 2004 and a record low of 1.100 Ratio in 1960. United States US: Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Physicians include generalist and specialist medical practitioners.; ; World Health Organization's Global Health Workforce Statistics, OECD, supplemented by country data.; Weighted average;

The number of male physicians outnumber female physicians in the U.S. in most specialties. The only major exceptions are found in pediatrics, child and adolescent psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, although female physicians do slightly outnumber males in a few other specialties. As of 2021, there were around 68,400 male family medicine/general practice physicians compared to 50,000 women in this specialty.

Physicians in the U.S.

Both the number of doctors and rate of doctors in the U.S. have increased over the years. As of 2021, there were around 946,800 active doctors of medicine in the U.S. This was around 29.9 physicians per 10,000 civilian population. In 1995, this rate stood at 24.2 physicians per 10,000 population.

Physicians by state

The states with the highest overall number of active physicians are California, New York, Texas, and Florida. However, the states with the highest rate of physicians per 10,000 civilian population include Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maryland. The District of Columbia has the highest rate of physicians by a large margin, with around 74.6 physicians per 10,000 population. The state with the highest annual compensation for physicians is Oklahoma, where physicians earn an annual average of 337,000 dollars.

This is the fourth round of the physician survey component of the Community Tracking Study (CTS). The first round was conducted in 1996-1997 (ICPSR 2597), the second round in 1998-1999 (ICPSR 3267), and the third in 2000-2001 (ICPSR 3820). Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the CTS is a large-scale investigation of changes in the American health care system and their effects on people. As in the previous rounds, physicians were sampled in the 60 CTS sites: 51 metropolitan and 9 nonmetropolitan areas that were randomly selected to form the core of the CTS and to be representative of the nation as a whole. However, the fourth round lacks an independent supplemental national sample of physicians, which augmented the CTS site sample in the previous rounds. Information collected by the survey includes net income from the practice of medicine, year of birth, sex, race, Hispanic origin, year of graduation from medical school, specialty, board certification status, compensation model, patient mix (e.g., race/Hispanic origin of patients and percent with chronic conditions), career satisfaction, practice type, size, and ownership, percent of practice revenue from Medicare, Medicaid, or managed care, acceptance of new Medicaid and Medicare patients and, if applicable, reasons for not accepting them, use of information technology for care management, number of patient visits and hours worked in medically related activities during the last complete week of work, and the number of hours spent providing charity care in the last month. In addition, the survey elicited views on a number of issues such as patient-physician interactions, competition among practices, the influence of financial incentives on the quantity of services provided to patients, trends in the amount and quality of nursing support, one's ability to provide quality care and obtain needed services for patients, and the importance of various factors that may limit the quality of care. Part 3, the Site and County Crosswalk Data File, identifies the counties that constitute each CTS site. Part 4, Physician Survey Summary File, contains site-level estimates and standard errors for selected physician characteristics, e.g., the average age of physicians, the average percentage of patients with a formulary, and the percentage of physicians who said medical errors in hospitals are a minor problem.

In 2019, there around ** physicians in patient care per 10,000 resident population in the Unitec States. This statistic shows the number of physicians in patient care per 10,000 resident population in the United States from 1975 to 2019.

Canada’s average population to specialist physician ratio has been 1100:1 for over a decade. Low ratios are generally associated with urban areas. The region with the highest ratio is located in north central Newfoundland, a region with relatively few people but even fewer physician resources, including family physicians.

About 33 percent of U.S. physicians spent 17-24 minutes with their patients, according to a survey conducted in 2018. Physicians are often constrained in their time directly working with patients, which could have an impact on patient care outcomes. Studies found out that physicians spend almost half of their time in office on data entry and other desk work. More sophisticated, network-enabled EHR (electronic health records) systems for physicians could probably be a step towards more time directly with patients.

U.S. physicians

Physicians work in a variety of fields and across direct patient care and research. Within the last 50 years, the total number of active physicians has increased dramatically throughout the United States. Among all U.S. states, including the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia had the highest rate of all U.S. states of active physicians.

Physician time

In a recent study, physicians were asked about the time they spend with their patients. According to the results, a majority of physicians said that they felt their time with patients was limited. In 2018, most physicians saw 11-20 patients per day. Some reports have estimated that for every hour of direct patient contact, physicians spend an additional 2 hours working on reporting and desk work. Recent physician surveys have also indicated that one of the primary reasons for physician burn-out is having too many bureaucratic tasks.

Abstract (en): Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this survey is one component of the Community Tracking Study (CTS), a national study designed to track changes in the health care system and the effects of the changes on care delivery and on individuals. Central to the design of the CTS is its community focus. Sixty sites (51 metropolitan areas and 9 nonmetropolitan areas) were randomly selected to form the core of the CTS and to be representative of the nation as a whole. The Physician Survey was administered to physicians in the 60 CTS sites and to a supplemental national sample of physicians. Information gathered by the survey instrument includes physician supply and specialty distribution, practice arrangements and physician ownership of practices, sources of practice revenue, level and determinants of physician compensation, effects of care management strategies, and physicians' allocation of time, provision of charity care, career satisfaction, and perceptions of their ability to deliver care. For primary care physicians, the survey instrument also provided vignettes of various clinical presentations for which there was no prescribed method of treatment. These physicians were asked to indicate the percentage of patients for whom they would recommend the course of action specified in each particular vignette. Part 3, the Site and County Crosswalk Data File, describes which counties constitute each site. Part 4, the Physician Survey Summary File, contains site-level averages and percentages and standard errors of these estimates for selected attributes, e.g., the percentage of physicians who were foreign medical school graduates, average age of physicians, average percentage of patient care practice revenue from Medicaid, etc. Physicians who were practicing in the contiguous United States, were providing direct patient care for at least 20 hours per week, and were not federal employees. Residents and fellows, as well as physicians in selected specialties, were excluded. The CTS sites were selected using stratified sampling with probability proportional to population size. The supplemental sample, selected with stratified random sampling, was included in the survey to increase the precision of national estimates. The sample frame was developed by combining lists of physicians from the American Medical Association and the American Osteopathic Association. 2011-11-17 ICPSR added Stata setups to this collection.2001-12-21 (1) Data and documentation for the Restricted-Use Version of the Main Data File (Part 2) have been updated. Several variables were revised and other variables have been added or deleted. For a complete description of the changes, see the "What's New" page in the user guide for Part 2. (2) The codebook for the Site and County Crosswalk Data File (Part 3) has been revised. (3) SAS and SPSS data definition statements have been prepared for Parts 3 and 4.1999-11-02 A restricted-use version of the main data file has been added to the collection as Part 2, the Site and County Crosswalk Data File has been added as Part 3, and the Physician Survey Summary File has been added as Part 4. To obtain the restricted-use file, researchers must agree to the terms and conditions of a Restricted Data Use Agreement. Funding insitution(s): Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (29275). More information about this study can be found on the Web site of the Center for Studying Health System Change.

Nurses in the United States increased to 12.71 per 1000 people in 2024 from 12.36 per 1000 people in 2023. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United States Nurses.

In 2021, there were approximately 2.56 doctors for every 1,000 inhabitants in South Korea. This was a slight increase compared to the preceding year. This ratio has increased steadily since 2000, with the exception of a slight drop in 2004. However, South Korea still has few doctors relative to its population. The OECD average was 3.3 doctors per 1,000 people, and among the full OECD member countries, only Mexico and Turkey had lower ratios. According to OECD data, key partners China, Brazil, India, South Africa, and Indonesia have ratios lower than Korea. At the other end of the spectrum is Austria with 5.48 doctors per 1,000 people, followed by Norway with 5.16 and Germany with 4.53. Shortage of medical staffs The Korean government officially declared a shortage of several thousand doctors across the nation and recommended the training of an additional 150 doctors every year to make up the shortfall. Furthermore, doctors of traditional Korean medicine are counted among the number of doctors, meaning there are even fewer doctors of modern medical sciences than official figures suggest. Yet there are several factors, such as resistance from doctors, preventing the government from simply increasing the number of medical graduates. Regional imbalances in the medical environmentSome experts refute the government’s claims that Korea faces a doctor shortage and point towards other factors. For example, Korea has a higher population density than other countries, meaning that the average Korean doctor meets with more patients than an Austrian or Norwegian one would. Indeed, half the population is concentrated in the Seoul Capital Area. Additionally, Koreans see doctors around 19 times a year on average, which is far more frequently than any other OECD nationals. Despite this, Korea spends a lower share of its GDP on medical expenditures than other OECD countries, implying that medical personnel do more work for less financial compensation. Regional disparities where doctors are concentrated in Seoul and other major cities is also an issue. The doctor-to-people ratio in Seoul is higher than the national ratio, and the same as the OECD average. Many argue that a shortage of nurses is a greater concern than an alleged shortage of doctors. While the number of trained nurses is adequate, many leave because of harsh working conditions.

The US Healthcare Visits Statistics dataset includes data about the frequency of healthcare visits to doctor offices, emergency departments, and home visits within the past 12 months in the United States by age, race, Hispanic origin, poverty level, health insurance status, geographic region and other characteristics between 1997 and 2016.