Data extracted in July 2025.
Planned article update: August 2026.
Highlights
On average, people in Austria made 12.6 consultations of medical doctors during 2023, the highest average among the EU countries. The next highest averages were in Slovakia and Hungary (respectively, 11.0 and 10.9 consultations per inhabitant).
More than a third of consultations of medical doctors during 2023 were teleconsultations in Estonia, with shares over a quarter also observed in Portugal, Denmark and Sweden.
People in the Netherlands made an average of 3.4 visits to dentists during 2023. This was twice the rate of France, which had the next highest ratio.
Consultation of a medical doctor, 2023
This article presents an overview of European Union (EU) statistics related to consultations of medical professionals, in particular the consultation of doctors and dentists.
This article is included in a set of statistical articles concerning healthcare activities in the EU which forms part of an online publication on Health in the European Union – facts and figures.
Consultations of doctors
Statistics on the average number of consultations with a physician per inhabitant include consultations at the physician’s office, in the patient’s home, or in out-patient departments of hospitals or ambulatory health care centres; they also include teleconsultations. They cover consultations with generalist and specialist medical practitioners. These figures exclude consultations/visits during treatment as part of in-patient or day care patient care in a hospital or similar institution.
Among EU countries, the frequency of consulting a physician varies greatly. The average number of consultations generally ranged between 4.4 and 10.1 in most EU countries (see Figure 2 for data availability). In Greece, Malta and Sweden, there were, on average, between 2.7 and 3.2 consultations of a physician per inhabitant during 2023. The highest frequencies for consultations of physicians were recorded in Austria (12.6 per inhabitant), Slovakia (11.0 per inhabitant) and Hungary (10.9 per inhabitant).
Compared with the average for 2020 to 2022, the average number of consultations per inhabitant was lower in 2023 in 5 of the 25 EU countries for which data are available (see Figure 1 for data availability): Estonia, Slovenia, Finland, Spain and France. In the remaining EU countries, the average number increased. The largest increase in absolute terms was recorded for the Netherlands, up 1.2 from an average of 8.9 to 10.1 consultations per inhabitant.
Source: Eurostat (hlth_hc_phys2)
Among EU countries, teleconsultations of medical doctors were most common in Estonia, averaging 2.1 per inhabitant during 2023. There were almost no teleconsultations in Romania and Greece, both of which averaged 0.0 consultations per inhabitant; detailed data show that the average in Greece was below 0.0002 teleconsultations per inhabitant.
In relative terms, Estonia also recorded the largest share of teleconsultations among all consultations of medical doctors, at 35% in 2023. Teleconsultations also represented more than one quarter of all consultations in Portugal (27%), Denmark (26%) and Sweden (25%). However, for these 3 countries, coverage is incomplete, and the reported shares may therefore be affected (see Figure 2 for data availability). In 10 of the 19 countries for which this share can be calculated, fewer than 1 in 10 consultations were teleconsultations.
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Consultations of dentists
In 2023, by far the highest average number of in-peron consultations of dentists was in the Netherlands
The average number of consultations of dentists was far lower than the average number of consultations of medical doctors, as can be seen by comparing the scales of Figures 1 and 3. In Romania and Cyprus (incomplete coverage), there were, on average, fewer than 0.5 consultations of a dentist per inhabitant during 2023. Most other EU countries reported averages between 0.6 and 1.7 consultations. The Netherlands was well above this range, with an average of 3.4 consultations per inhabitant.
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Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
This article presents data on consultations of medical professionals mainly from administrative data.
Healthcare resources and activities
Statistics on healthcare resources and healthcare activities (such as information on consultations of doctors and dentists) are documented in a background article on the methodology of healthcare non-expenditure statistics. This provides information on the scope of the data, its legal basis, the methodology employed, as well as related concepts and definitions. Consultations of doctors generally exclude visits for prescribed laboratory tests, or visits to perform prescribed and scheduled treatment procedures (such as injections and physiotherapy). In-person consultations of dentists include consultations of dental specialists, such as orthodontists.
For country specific notes on these data collections, please refer to the annexes at the end of the national metadata reports accessible from links at the beginning of the European metadata report.
The Healthcare non-expenditure statistics manual provides an overview of the classifications, both for mandatory variables and variables provided on a voluntary basis.
Context
Medical consultations are usually held in a doctor’s surgery / dentist’s practice or another place for the provision of ambulatory care, including out-patient care in hospitals, although medical professionals may also travel to patients, for example, in the case of an accident or emergency, or a home visit. Consultations with a medical doctor may also be remote, for example by telephone, or video-call, known as teleconsultations. Teleconsultations with doctors’ refer to interactive telemedicine which involves direct and synchronous communication between providers and patients. However, a teleconsultation may also include aspects of telemonitoring (use of mobile devices and platforms, e.g. to conduct routine medical tests, etc.) or store and forward (as telemonitoring, but used for clinical data that are less time-sensitive and for which a delay between transmission and response is acceptable). Teleconsultations can involve public or private providers, and are regardless of the specific technology used (e.g. PC, tablet, fixed or mobile phone, etc.). Data for such consultations are not always available; footnotes in Figures 1 and 2 indicate when data are only available for in-person consultations.
The frequency of consulting a particular type of medical professional may be influenced by the way doctors and other professionals are paid, the range of services offered by other professionals (for example, some services may be provided by both nurses and doctors), and the division of work between generalist and specialist practitioners.
From the patient’s perspective, the time and monetary cost of a consultation may be factors which influence their decision to seek a consultation, alongside their perception as to their own needs for professional assistance. The frequency of consultations is also related to socio-demographic factors, such as age and sex.
Eurostat covers some aspects of the accessibility of health care by disseminating data from the survey “2022 [EU statistics on income and living conditions U statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) EU statistics on income and living conditions U statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC)] ad-hoc module on [Health Health]”.
The European Commission has launched a range of specific actions aimed at supporting the modernisation and digitalisation of health systems, including expanding equitable access to services and supporting telemedicine. The European Health Data Space Regulation which officially entered into force on 26 March 2025 will foster the development of telemedicine for improved healthcare delivery.
Explore further
Other articles
Online publications
Healthcare resources
- Physicians
- Healthcare personnel statistics - nursing and caring professionals
- Dentists, pharmacists and physiotherapists
- Healthcare resource statistics - beds
- Healthcare resource statistics - technical resources and medical technology
Healthcare activities
- Hospital discharges and length of stay
- Medicine use
- Cancer screening statistics
- Surgical operations and procedures
- Unmet needs for medical care
Methodology
General health statistics articles
Database
- Health (hlth), see
- Health care (hlth_care)
- Consultations (hlth_consult)
- Consultation of a dentist per inhabitant (hlth_hc_dent)
- Consultation of a medical doctor per inhabitant and by type of consultation (hlth_hc_phys2)
- Consultations (hlth_consult)
- Health care (hlth_care)