The average for 2020 based on 27 countries was 3.56 doctors per 1,000 people. The highest value was in Austria: 5.35 doctors per 1,000 people and the lowest value was in Brazil: 2.05 doctors per 1,000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The statistic displays the number of people per active physician in the United States in 2021, based on specialty. In that year, there were ****** people per physician specializing in pain medicine and pain management. The largest number of active physicians are among primary care specialties such as internal medicine and general practice. Active physician in the U.S.Both federal and nonfederal physicians licensed by a state and working at least 20 hours a week are considered active. There is a large variety among practicing physicians in the United States based on specialties. In 2019, there were about ****** people per physician practicing interventional cardiology and about ***** people per pediatrician. Overall, there are *** people per physician of all specialties. There are also gross differences between practicing physicians based on specialty and both age group and gender. Nearly ** percent of physicians practicing neurological surgery are males, and a ** percent of physicians practicing obstetrics and gynecology are women. Overall, women make up about ** percent of all physicians. Some ** percent of physicians practicing internal medicine/pediatrics as well as ** percent of doctors practicing interventional cardiology were under the age of 55. More than **** of the doctors practicing geriatric medicine in the United States obtained their medical education internationally. This includes outside the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. To be able to practice in the United States, these doctors must be certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduate and complete a residency within the United States.

In Mexico, the number of practicing doctors amounted to **** professionals per 1,000 inhabitants in 2023, an increase compared to the figures reported a year earlier when there were **** practicing physicians per every thousand people. During 2022, the number of physicians in Mexico totaled approximately ******* professionals. Density of doctors worldwide In a global comparison, Mexico ranks in a middle category for density of medical doctors per 1,000 population, similar to Canada and Colombia. Among the countries in the upper bracket for highest density of doctors are Cuba, Sweden, Belgium, and Uruguay. Along with Mexico’s moderate density of doctors, over ** percent of the population was considered vulnerable due to lack of access to health services in Mexico as of 2022, up from around **** percent a decade earlier. Health care in Mexico Nearly ** ******* people in Mexico held public health insurance through Seguro Popular in 2020, which was replaced by a new institution at the beginning of that year, called INSABI (Instituto Nacional de Salud para el Bienestar). However, the IMSS (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social) led by a large margin as the largest provider of health insurance in the North American country.

Actual value and historical data chart for Norway Physicians Per 1 000 People

Peru PE: Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 1.116 Ratio in 2012. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.920 Ratio for 2010. Peru PE: Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 0.929 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2012, with 23 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.166 Ratio in 1999 and a record low of 0.510 Ratio in 1960. Peru PE: Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Peru – Table PE.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;

Afghanistan Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 0.254 Ratio in 2020. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.212 Ratio for 2019. Afghanistan Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 0.186 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2020, with 26 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.298 Ratio in 2014 and a record low of 0.035 Ratio in 1960. Afghanistan Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Afghanistan – Table AF.World Bank.WDI: Social: Health Statistics. Physicians include generalist and specialist medical practitioners.;World Health Organization's Global Health Workforce Statistics, OECD, supplemented by country data.;Weighted average;This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.c.1 [https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

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.

Yemen YE: Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 0.311 Ratio in 2014. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.310 Ratio for 2009. Yemen YE: Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 0.219 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2014, with 15 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.338 Ratio in 2004 and a record low of 0.007 Ratio in 1990. Yemen YE: Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Yemen – Table YE.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;

In 2023 the countries with the most doctors per capita was Cuba, the country with the highest physician density. There were 84 physicians per every 10,000 of Cuba's population, however, the most recent data was from 2021. Other countries with high physician density were mostly found in Europe, including Monaco, Greece, Belgium, and Lithuania.

Actual value and historical data chart for United Kingdom Physicians Per 1 000 People

Mali ML: Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 0.085 Ratio in 2010. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.076 Ratio for 2009. Mali ML: Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 0.044 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2010, with 19 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.085 Ratio in 2010 and a record low of 0.014 Ratio in 1960. Mali ML: Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Mali – Table ML.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;

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 2023, there were almost ** doctors per 10,000 population in Russia. The density of doctors in the country has gradually increased in recent years after a decline in 2015, when the figure fell to around ** medical professionals per 10,000 residents. How many doctors work in Russia? The number of doctors in the country grew by ****** between 2015 and 2023. In total, approximately ******* physicians were employed in healthcare in Russia during that year. Over ******* medical doctors worked in the public sector, including educational, scientific, cultural, healthcare, and social services organizations, in 2022. Importance of doctors’ density during COVID-19 During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, countries with a low density of physicians have been suffering from limited healthcare resources and unequal access to medical assistance, as highlighted by the International Labor Organization Department of Statistics (Ilostat). Russia is the only non-high-income country among those with the highest doctors’ density worldwide. There were five infectious disease specialists per 100,000 inhabitants in the country as of April 2020.

Bangladesh BD: Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 0.670 Ratio in 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.656 Ratio for 2020. Bangladesh BD: Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 0.326 Ratio from Dec 1965 (Median) to 2021, with 29 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.670 Ratio in 2021 and a record low of 0.119 Ratio in 1970. Bangladesh BD: Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Bangladesh – Table BD.World Bank.WDI: Social: Health Statistics. Physicians include generalist and specialist medical practitioners.;World Health Organization's Global Health Workforce Statistics, OECD, supplemented by country data.;Weighted average;This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.c.1 [https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

As of 2019, the south Indian state of Kerala had the highest density of doctors of about ** per ten thousand population in the country. However, Jharkhand had the least density of doctors in the country of about **** doctors per ten thousand people in the state.

Austria leads the world in physician density with **** practicing doctors per thousand population in 2022, highlighting significant disparities in healthcare access globally. This stark contrast becomes evident when comparing Austria to countries like India, South Africa, and Indonesia, which have less than * physician per 1,000 people. Life expectancy and healthcare access Interestingly, countries with higher physician densities often correlate with higher life expectancies. Switzerland, for instance, boasts both a high physician density of **** per 1,000 people and the highest life expectancy globally at **** years. This relationship underscores the potential impact of accessible healthcare on population health. However, exceptions exist, as evidenced by the United States, where life expectancy has decreased in recent years despite having **** physicians per 1,000 people. Factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid epidemic have contributed to this decline. Healthcare expenditure and physician density While physician density is an important metric, it does not always directly correlate with healthcare spending. The United States, for example, has the highest per capita health expenditure among OECD countries, spending over ****** U.S. dollars per person in 2023. This is significantly higher than countries with greater physician densities like Austria and Germany. The U.S. also allocates the largest share of its GDP to healthcare, at **** percent. The United States is an outlier regarding the correlation between healthcare spending, resources and health outcomes.

Belarus BY: Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 4.470 Ratio in 2020. This records an increase from the previous number of 4.434 Ratio for 2019. Belarus BY: Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 3.300 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2020, with 21 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5.051 Ratio in 2015 and a record low of 2.896 Ratio in 1991. Belarus BY: Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Belarus – Table BY.World Bank.WDI: Social: Health Statistics. Physicians include generalist and specialist medical practitioners.;World Health Organization's Global Health Workforce Statistics, OECD, supplemented by country data.;Weighted average;This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.c.1 [https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

In 2023, there were approximately 2.66 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. An attempt to increase the number of medical student admissions quotas in February 2024 led to an ongoing strike of healthcare workers and conflict between medical professionals and the government. 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 over 21 times per 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.

As of the end of 2020, there were around *** practicing physicians per 100,000 inhabitants in Japan, up from approximately *** in 2018. The total number of physicians engaging in medical care amounted to roughly ***** thousand in 2020. Despite keeping the highest numbers and density of hospitals worldwide, Japan is not included in the list of leading countries when it comes to the count and density of physicians. Japanese hospitals are, therefore, repeatedly said to be suffering from the shortage of physicians and other medical staff.

Profile of physicians

In 2020, the average age of all registered physicians in Japan was **** years old, indicating a constant increase in the last two decades. Of the total, around ** percent were female physicians. Tokushima Prefecture had the highest number of physicians among all ** prefectures, with about ***** physicians available per 100,000 population.

Physicians employed at hospitals

In Japan, medical facilities can be divided into two categories: hospitals and medical clinics. Japanese hospitals have facilities for the admission of ** or more inpatients, while medical clinics provide a smaller scale of services. In 2020, the number of physicians working at hospitals exceeded *** thousand, showing a continuous growth in recent years. In terms of specialty, the highest number of physicians, around ** thousand, were working at internal medicine departments in the hospitals. Roughly **** thousand were specializing in surgery.

Actual value and historical data chart for France Physicians Per 1 000 People