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.

As of January 2025, there were a total of 566,723 specialty physicians active in the United States. Of these, most were specialized in emergency medicine. Physician compensation Significant pay variations exist across specialties and regions, with orthopedic doctors and surgeons command the highest average annual salaries at 558,000 U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the West North Central area offers the highest average physician compensation at 404,000 U.S. dollars annually. This region's higher pay likely stems from lower physician density in rural areas, creating less competition. Interestingly, doctors in Northeastern and Southwestern parts of the United States tend to earn less than their counterparts in other regions. Burnout among physicians Despite high salaries, U.S. physicians face high workload and stress in the workplace. Nearly half of surveyed doctors reported feeling burnout, with higher burnout rates among female doctors, younger physicians, and those in primary care compared to their counterparts. More effort to combat burnout is needed in the healthcare system. Increasing compensation was cited by physicians as the top measure to alleviate burnout, followed by adding support staff and offering more flexible schedules.

This statistic shows the total number of doctors of medicine in the United States from 1949 to 2015. In 1949, there were 201,277 doctors of medicine in the United States. Some 50 years later, the number was around four times as high. In 2015, the exact number of doctors of medicine was 1,085,783.

The states with the most number of active physicians include California, New York, Texas, and Florida. California currently has the most number of active physicians of any U.S. state, with around 122963 physicians. In California, the specialties with the most physicians are psychiatry, emergency medicine, and anaesthesiology. Specialty areas In general, the most common specialty areas for physicians in the U.S. are emergency medicine, psychiatry, surgery, and anaesthesiology. As of 2024, there were around 58,900 psychiatrists in the U.S. Concerning the gender distribution of specialty physicians, males out number females in almost every specialty, with exceptions found in mainly in various pediatric disciplines, and obstetrics and gynecology. Compensation The specialty areas with the highest average annual compensation are plastic surgery, orthopedics, and cardiology. As of 2024, a physician in orthopedics earned an average of 558,000 U.S. dollars per year. Male physicians still earn more than their female counterparts in both primary care and specialty settings. This difference is especially large in specialty settings, where male physicians earn more than 100,000 dollars more per year than female physicians.

In 2023, the number of doctors in Thailand increased from the previous year to around ******. On the other hand, the number of physicians in the country has fluctuated since 2011. In comparison, the number of pharmacists has a steady increase since 2012. Well over ************ population per doctor The shortage of medical staff in Thailand has been a serious issue for a long time. Nevertheless, the number has been improving in the past decade. In 2023, Thailand had a doctor-to-population ratio of around * to *****, meaning one doctor is responsible for almost ***** people. In comparison to other ASEAN member countries, doctors or physicians in the Philippines have a higher workload, with a ratio of *** doctor per ****** population in 2022. Despite a better ratio compared to the Philippines, Thailand’s doctor-to-population ratio is still below the World Health Organization (WHO) standard, which is a ratio of **********. Becoming a doctor in Thailand  According to the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), the most significant factor affecting the shortage of doctors is the long path to becoming a doctor in Thailand. The six-year Doctor of Medicine (MD) program is divided into three phases, comprising general education, basic medical science, and gaining clinical experience in hospitals across Thailand. After completing the MD program, a graduate can continue additional postgraduate training for three to four years to become a specialist.

By 2024, there were approximately 635,000 doctors registered in Brazil, an increase of around 74 percent compared to the number of physicians recorded in 2010. The medical specialties with the highest number of doctors in the South American country in 2024 were internal medicine and pediatrics.

In the United States, there were roughly 268 thousand primary care physicians (PCPs) actively working in 2021. Most PCPs were either specialized in family medicine or internal medicine. The third most common specialty for primary care physicians in the United States was pediatrics.

In 2023, approximately 759,000 physicians worked in Russia. The number of doctors in the country gradually increased in recent years after a decline in 2015, when medical professionals across Russia were cut during the process of a health system reform. To increase salaries of healthcare professionals, the health ministry cut on other expenses and reduced the number of workers.

In 2024, there were over *** thousand medical practitioners employed in the United Kingdom. This is an increase from 2010 when there were *** thousand doctors in the UK. Between these years, the number of medical practitioners has experienced little fluctuations with large increases since 2020 (which could be due to temporary emergency registration measures taken up during the pandemic). Patterns of employment in the UK health sector The number of health professionals overall in the UK stood at *** million in 2024, also a large increase in the number of workers from 2010. The number of nurses in the UK has also been increasing since 2010, amounting to *** thousand in 2023. Impact of Brexit Doctors who qualified in a country from the European Economic Area (EEA) took up almost ** percent share of the total doctors registered in the UK in 2023. This is the lowest proportion since 2011, although the decline had started prior to the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

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.

In 2022, roughly three in ten surveyed physicians worked in medical practices that were fewer than **** physicians in size. Another *** in ten physicians were in practices of **** to *** physicians, while **** percent were in practices with ** or more physicians. On the other hand, *** in ten physicians surveyed were directly employed or contracted by a hospital. U.S. physicians The number of active doctors of medicine in the U.S. has increased dramatically in the past 50 years. Currently, there are over ********* active doctors in the United States. Among all U.S. states, **********, followed by ********, was the state with the highest number of active physicians. It is estimated that there will be a deficit of over *** thousand physicians by 2030. Medical practices Many sources indicate that physicians are moving away from private practice and into practices owned by hospitals or medical groups. In 2022, a ******** of physicians were practice owners, partners or associates and over **** of physicians were employed by someone else. In the same year, a majority of U.S. physicians said that they are at full capacity or overworked within their practices while only *** ***** of physicians indicated that they had time to see more patients.

This statistic shows the number of licensed doctors* in China from 2013 to 2023. In 2023, the number of licensed doctors in China amounted to approximately 4.78 million, compared to 4.43 million in the previous year.

In 2022, there were around *** doctors per ten thousand inhabitants in Vietnam. The number of doctors per ten thousand inhabitants in Vietnam had been growing steadily within the given timeline.

Among OECD countries in 2022, South Korea had the highest rate of yearly visits to a doctor per capita. On average, people in South Korea visited the doctors 15.7 times per year in person. Health care utilization is an important indicator of the success of a country’s health care system. There are many factors that affect health care utilization including healthcare structure and the supply of health care providers.

OECD health systems

Healthcare systems globally include a variety of tools for accessing healthcare, including private insurance based systems, like in the U.S., and universal systems, like in the U.K. Health systems have varying costs among the OECD countries. Worldwide, Europe has the highest expenditures for health as a proportion of the GDP. Among all OECD countries, The United States had the highest share of government spending on health care. Recent estimates of current per capita health expenditures showed the United States also had, by far, the highest per capita spending on health worldwide.

Supply of health providers

Globally, the country with the highest physician density is Cuba, although most other countries with high number of physicians to population was found in Europe. The number of graduates of medicine impacts the number of available physicians in countries. Among OECD countries, Latvia had the highest rate of graduates of medicine, which was almost twice the rate of the OECD average.

In 2022, there were a total of 99.6 thousand doctors across all health establishments in Vietnam, indicating a slight increase from the previous year. In that year, there were 10 doctor per ten thousand inhabitants.

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.

In 2021, the number of doctors in Myanmar amounted to approximately 11.25 thousand, which was a decrease from the previous year. In 2018, there were around 17.9 thousand doctors appointed in Myanmar. Healthcare reforms and effects For the production of qualified medical doctors, the 9th Medical Education Seminar reduced intakes in the major medical schools to almost half in 2012 and the years to follow. The reforms included extensions of periods of study for medical students. To support the imminent flux of graduated doctors, Myanmar also substantiated an increase in the number of government hospitals. In 2018, students in the medical field accounted for a major chunk of enrolled students with medicine being one of the favored study majors among graduates. The number of doctors in Myanmar has been on an up and down since 2011, while the number of nurses experienced a gradual decline. The Urban and Rural Divide Private hospitals mainly operate in major cities of Myanmar, but they also provide services to rural areas along with the public hospitals. Even though the number of doctors per 100,000 of the population is on par with the Southeast Asian average, the increase in workforce is not apparent in rural areas due to the remoteness of location and insufficient resources. An example of this is the comparison between the Yangon region and the Kayah state. The Yangon region is one of the major urban areas and has accounted for the highest number of healthcare professionals. Whereas, the Kayah State is a predominantly rural state and has registered the lowest number of healthcare professionals.

In 2025, there were approximately **** medical doctors per 1,000 people in Brazil, an increase compared to the physician density of about **** doctors per 1,000 inhabitants reported a year earlier. That same year, the number of doctors registered in the South American country totaled about ******* professionals, most of them based in São Paulo.

As of 2022, the number of licensed physicians in the United States and the District of Columbia amounted to 1,044,734 physicians. This included both Doctors of Medicine and Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine. The number of licensed U.S. physicians has been steadily increasing since 2010.

As of 2023, there were around *** thousand physicians in Saudi Arabia. This was approximately ** thousand more than the previous year. Apart from 2019 when there was a decline of roughly 2000 physicians in the country, all other years since 2011 have recorded a steady increase in the total number of physicians.