In 2025, roughly *** thousand doctors were registered in the United Kingdom (UK). Of these, around *** thousand were white, while the largest ethnicity of UK doctors other than white was Asian or Asian British. Some *** thousand doctors reported so. This is unsurprising considering the most common foreign country of medical qualification is India, followed by Pakistan. As of 2024, there were more doctors of ethnic minorities than white doctors in the UK.

In 2025, roughly *** thousand doctors were registered in the United Kingdom. The age group with the highest number of doctors is among 30 to 34 years with nearly ** thousand professionals, followed those aged 35 to 39 years. There were **** thousand doctors aged over 70 years in the UK still registered. Gender distribution of UK doctors In total, there are **** male doctors than female doctors registered in the UK. However, there are differences by age group. The majority of younger doctors are female. In fact, there is a clear divide, in 2025, there were more male doctors in all age groups over ** years, while in all age groups younger than ** years, female doctors outweighed males. The gender distribution also varies depending on the specialty of the doctor. General Practice Of the *** thousand doctors registered in the United Kingdom in 2024, around **** thousand were registered as general practitioners. In the last ten years, the ratio of patients per GP practice has been increasing, indicating a stretch on the health service. In 2016, there were, approximately *** thousand patients to each GP practice in England, by 2024 this figure had climbed to over ** thousand.

In 2025, out of the *** thousand registered doctors in the United Kingdom, *** thousand were men and *** thousand were women. There was a more pronounced gender gap among specialist doctors in the UK, with ** thousand men to nearly ** thousand women qualified on the specialist register. Although on the GP register, women outnumber men with over ** thousand female GPs to nearly ** thousand male GPs. Gender distribution of UK doctors by age While there are **** male doctors than female doctors in total, the gender distribution of doctors in the UK looks different depending on the age group. Female doctors ********* their male counterpart in all age groups under 45 years old. Therefore, as more doctors retire, the proportion of female doctors will increase. Worldwide make-up of doctors in the UK Although the majority of medical practitioners in the UK received their medical qualification from within the UK, there is still a significant number of doctors who graduated outside the UK. As of 2024, some ** percent of registered doctors in the UK are from the European Economic Area (EEA) while a further third are international medical graduates (IMG) indicating the reliance of the NHS on immigration to support the organization’s workforce.

Forecast: Population Per Medical Doctors Graduates in the UK 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

In 2025, just over half of doctors registered in the United Kingdom had received their primary medical qualification (PMQ) in the UK itself. This came to over *** thousand doctors that year. The second most common country, where a doctor received their PMQ, was India, followed by Pakistan and Nigeria. The PMQ does not equal the nationality of the doctor. There are already more doctors of ethnic minorities registered in the UK than white doctors.

This report shows monthly numbers of NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) staff working in NHS Trusts and CCGs in England (excluding primary care staff). Data are available as headcount and full-time equivalents and for all months from 30 September 2009 onwards. These data are an accurate summary of the validated data extracted from the NHS HR and Payroll system. Additional statistics on staff in NHS Trusts and CCGs and information for NHS Support Organisations and Central Bodies are published each: September (showing June statistics) December/January (showing September statistics) March (showing December statistics) June (showing March statistics) Quarterly NHS Staff Earnings and monthly NHS Staff Sickness Absence reports and data relating to the General Practice workforce and the Independent Healthcare Provider workforce are also available via the Related Links below. Following feedback from data users, there will be a change to the HCHS doctor grades of 'Associate Specialist' and 'Specialty Doctor' in relevant tables in this publication series. Two new specialty doctor and specialist grades were introduced in April 2021 and both were reported in NHS Digital tables within the 'Specialty Doctor' grade. One of these new grades for specialist is more appropriately classified within the 'Associate Specialist' category in NHS Digital data tables. Therefore, from March 2022 these will be included within the 'Associate Specialist' category and removed from 'Specialty Doctor'. The March 2022 data in the Provisional statistics file in this publication reflects this new approach, and the time series for data back to April 2021 will be revised for these two categories in the full March 2022 publication, released in June 2022. We welcome feedback on the methodology and tables within this publication. Please email us with your comments and suggestions, clearly stating Monthly HCHS Workforce as the subject heading, via enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk or 0300 303 5678.

In the UK, for the first time, the number of doctors of ethnic minorities surpassed the number of white doctors in 2023. The largest increase was seen among Asian or Asian British ethnicity group. This was due, in part, to the large influx of international medical graduates since 2018, when the cap limit of ****** doctors per year from outside the UK or EU/EEA was removed.

Introduction

Male and Female Doctors Statistics: Doctors play an essential role in the medical industry. Male and female doctors play critical roles in providing different healthcare services in medicine.

Historically, men have significantly dominated the medical profession. However, there has been a considerable growth in the number of female doctors over the years, as more women seek professions in medicine.

The distribution of male and female doctors across different specializations and geographic locations can vary significantly.

Key factors such as personal preferences, cultural norms, work-life balance considerations, etc., may influence the choices made by male and female doctors regarding their work environment as well as location.

These statistics relate to the contracted positions within English NHS organisations and may include those where the person assigned to the position is temporarily absent, for example on maternity leave. Full Time Equivalent (FTE) refers to the proportion of each role’s full time contracted hours that the post holder is contracted to work. 1 would indicate they work a full set of hours, 0.5 that they work half time. Note that the methodology for these statistics changed from December 2015. More information is available from the additional links below.

The United Kingdom's medical workforce reflects a diverse mix of professionals, with ** percent of all doctors receiving their primary medical qualification (PMQ) in the UK as of February 2025. This majority is even more pronounced among general practitioners, where a quarter obtained their qualifications domestically. International medical graduates make up a significant portion of the workforce, with ** percent of all doctors qualifying outside the UK and European Economic Area (EEA). Growth and composition of the medical workforce The number of registered doctors in the UK has shown consistent growth over the years, increasing from ******* in 2006 to over ******* in 2024. This expansion includes a substantial rise in specialists, with ******* specialist doctors registered in 2024. The number of general practitioners has also increased, reaching ****** GPs that year. However, GPs are still facing unprecedented pressure due to high workload and staff shortage, leading to burnout. Specialization and regional qualifications Among specialist doctors in the UK, medicine is the most common medical specialty group, accounting for over ****** doctors. Among them, half were specialized in general (internal) medicine. The impact of Brexit on the medical workforce is evident, with the share of EEA graduates among UK doctors decreasing since 2014. In 2025,around half of registered doctors received their PMQ in the UK, with India, Pakistan, and Nigeria being the most common countries of qualification outside the UK.

Over 1.3 million people were employed by the NHS in June 2022 and 74.3% of them were white (out of people whose ethnicity was known).

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.

A detailed view of the NHS Medical and dental workforce including consultants, registrars and other doctors in training. Data for medical and dental staff are an annual snapshot of the number of doctors within hospital and community health services (HCHS) of the NHS. It excludes General Practitioners, GP practice staff and high street dentists. The detailed results contain further data tables for September 2012 for England by age, gender, specialty and grade and selected data by Strategic Health Authority area and individual organisation. This report is one of three that make up the NHS Staff 2002 - 2012 publication, along with: non-medical staff 2002 - 2012 general practice staff 2002 - 2012 For a general overview, see NHS Staff 2002 - 2012 overview

United Kingdom UK: Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 2.825 Ratio in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.807 Ratio for 2015. United Kingdom UK: Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 1.400 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 51 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.825 Ratio in 2016 and a record low of 0.800 Ratio in 1960. United Kingdom UK: Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s UK – Table UK.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;

For the first time, the number of female licensed doctors in the United Kingdom has surpassed that of male doctors. As of 2024, there were ** more female doctors than their male counterparts. The number of all doctors licensed to practice in the UK has increased in general over the period observed. However, there are still more male doctors registered in the UK.

This metric is derived by the LGA (Local Government Association) from the CQC (Care Quality Commission's) Care Directory file. The file contains a complete list of the places in England where care is regulated by CQC. Using the National Statistics Postcode Lookup, we have counted the number of doctor/GP practices located in an area and then created a crude rate per 1,000 resident population.

These services involve doctors working in premises, or a room, designated for medical consultation or minor medical treatments. Often the doctor will complete medical consultations, including physical examination and simple physiological measurement (such as blood pressure tests). They will discuss diagnosis and treatment options and may prescribe medicines for the person to take at home.

They may also undertake minor invasive investigations or procedures, such as conscious endoscopy, in a treatment room designed for this purpose. There may be other healthcare professionals, for example practice nurses, supporting the work of the doctor.

Examples of services that fit under this category:

Independent doctors consulting rooms NHS GP practices Slimming clinics Early medical abortion clinics Travel vaccination services Polyclinics

Data is extracted once a quarter and provides a snapshot in time. It should be noted that due to changes to postcodes, a small proportion cannot be matched to the latest National Statistics Postcode Lookup file and are therefore excluded from these figures.

Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 4th of each month and shows MSOAs (Middle Layer Super Output Areas) at the 2021 Census Geography.

The number of doctors registered in the United Kingdom has increased over the period observed, from *** thousand in 2006 to over *** thousand in 2024. This included ******* specialist doctors and ****** general practitioners (GPs). Registered doctors do not all have a license to practice, nor are they necessarily employed.

The number of doctors registered in the United Kingdom has increased over the period observed, from ******* in 2006 to over ******* by 2024. This was largely due to the increase in female doctors, which has more than doubled in this period. The gap between the number of male and female doctors is narrowing each year. The gender gap has already closed for licensed doctors* in the UK