Data extracted in September 2025
Planned article update: September 2026
Highlights
There were an estimated 1.98 million practising physicians across the EU in 2023.
In 2023, more than half of all physicians in Bulgaria were aged 55 years or over.
In 2023, more than 70% of physicians in Latvia, Estonia, Romania and Lithuania were women.
The number of graduating medical doctors per 100 000 inhabitants rose between 2013 and 2023 in nearly all EU countries.
Number of general medical practitioners, 2023
This article presents an overview of European Union (EU) statistics on physicians. It provides information on specialist healthcare personnel, as well as data on the number and ratio of graduates in this field (note that all physicians need to possess a degree in medicine). It is one of a set of 3 articles on healthcare personnel, the others concerning nursing and caring professionals and dentists, pharmacists and physiotherapists.
Physicians provide licensed healthcare services to patients. They give advice, conduct medical examinations, diagnose diseases and conditions, apply preventive medical methods, prescribe medication, treat illnesses and provide specialised medical or surgical treatment.
This article is included in a set of statistical articles concerning healthcare resources in the EU which forms part of an online publication on Health in the European Union – facts and figures.
Healthcare personnel
Eurostat collects data on 3 concepts of physicians
- ‘practising’ – physicians providing services directly to patients
- ‘professionally active’ – ‘practising’ physicians plus physicians for whom their medical education is a prerequisite for the execution of their job
- ‘licensed’ – physicians who are registered and entitled to practise as physicians
In this article, preference is given to the concept of ‘practising’ physicians; for some EU countries, data aren’t available for this concept and therefore data are presented for 1 of the alternative concepts instead: notes indicate these exceptions in each table and figure. Comments on data on physicians licensed to practice or professionally active are not included in the text when referring to per 100 000 inhabitants.
There were an estimated 1.98 million physicians working in the EU in 2023
In 2023, there were an estimated 1.98 million practising physicians in the EU (see the footnotes of Table 1 for more details). The highest overall numbers of practising physicians were recorded in the largest EU countries: Germany (388 343, equivalent to 19.6% of the EU total), followed at some distance by Italy (315 720), France (266 380) and Spain (212 201). Together, these 4 EU countries accounted for 59.6% of the total number of practising physicians in the EU. Poland was the only other country with more than 100 000 practising physicians, with 141 452, equivalent to 7.1% of the EU total.
Among the EU countries, Austria recorded the highest number of practising physicians, relative to population, with 551 practising physicians per 100 000 inhabitants. Italy (535 per 100 000 inhabitants) and Cyprus (535 per 100 000 inhabitants) had the next highest ratios. By contrast, the lowest ratio was 288 practising physicians per 100 000 inhabitants in Finland. Elsewhere, there were between 336 (Latvia) and 466 (Germany) practising physicians per 100 000 inhabitants.
In a large majority of EU countries, there were more medical specialists than general medical practitioners
Generalist medical practitioners don’t limit their practice to certain disease categories or methods of treatment; they may assume responsibility for the provision of continuing and comprehensive medical care to individuals, families and communities. By contrast, medical specialists include doctors who specialise in the diagnosis and non-surgical treatment of physical disorders and diseases, for example specialists in internal medicine, cardiology, oncology and radiology. Surgical specialists include doctors who specialise in the use of surgical techniques to treat disorders and diseases, for example, specialists in general surgery, neurological surgery, anaesthesiology or accident and emergency medicine.
A closer examination of the data in Table 1 reveals that there were approximately 500 200 generalist medical practitioners across the EU (excluding data for Slovakia and including 2022 data for Sweden) in 2023. The highest number of generalists was recorded in France (95 095, followed by Germany (88 340). The highest number of practising generalists relative to population was reported in Ireland, with 206 per 100 000 inhabitants. The share of physicians who were generalist medical practitioners was highest in Ireland (54%) and the Netherlands (46%). The lowest share was recorded in Bulgaria (13%), which was the only country to report a share of less than 15%.
There were 18 EU countries (among 25 for which recent data are available) where there were more medical specialists than generalists. The EU countries with the highest number of medical specialists in 2023 were Italy (132 032) and Germany (129 312). In terms of practising medical specialists per 100 000 inhabitants Italy reported the highest number (224 per 100 000 inhabitants), followed by Bulgaria (203 per 100 000 inhabitants). The lowest number of medical specialists was reported in Finland, with 38 per 100 000.
There were more surgical specialists than generalist medical practitioners in 14 of the 25 EU countries for which recent data are available. In 2023, the highest numbers of surgical specialists were reported in Germany (106 174), the only country to report more than 100 000 surgical specialists. This was followed by Italy (77 067) and Spain (51 541). The highest number of practising surgical specialists was recorded in Cyprus (145 per 100 000), followed by Bulgaria (132). The lowest number of surgical specialists was reported in Finland, with 35 per 100 000 inhabitants.
The number of physicians per 100 000 inhabitants rose in all EU countries between 2018 and 2023
The number of physicians per 100 000 inhabitants increased in all EU countries between 2018 and 2023 (see Figure 1). The increasing trend may reflect demographic shifts linked to ageing populations in Europe; as the proportion of older generations in the EU increased in recent years, demand for health and social care services also increased.
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Excluding EU countries which recorded a break in time series (Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Italy, Hungary, Poland and Romania), the largest relative increase was recorded in Cyprus, where the number of physicians rose from 398 per 100 000 inhabitants in 2018 to 535 per 100 000 inhabitants in 2023 (an overall increase of 34.3%). The smallest increases in this ratio were in the Baltic countries: Estonia (up 0.2%), Lithuania (up 0.8%) and Latvia (up 1.3%).
Bulgaria had the highest share of physicians aged 55 years and over
There has been a rapid ageing of the healthcare workforce across much of the EU. In 10 EU countries, the share of physicians aged 55 years and over was greater than 39.0% in 2023. Among these, the share was over 50.0% in Bulgaria (54.5%). In most of the remaining EU countries for which data are available, the relative proportion of this age group in the total number of physicians was between 23.6% (the Netherlands) and 35.0% (France); smaller shares were recorded in Finland (20.6%), Romania (21.0%), Malta and Ireland (both 21.2%). Reflecting these smaller shares for physicians aged 55 years and over, the highest proportions of younger physicians (under 35 years) were in Malta (45.4%) and Romania (35.8%).
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More than 70% of physicians in Latvia, Estonia, Romania and Lithuania were women
The analysis presented in Figure 3 shows that there were considerable differences between EU countries with respect to the proportion of male and female physicians. Over the last decade, the overall proportion of female physicians gradually increased; by 2018, there was a slight majority of physicians in the EU who were female (50.4%), and this proportion continued to rise in the next 5 years to reach 52.9% in 2022.
In 2023, a majority (18) of the 26 EU countries for which data are available (no recent data for Luxembourg) reported that they had a higher number of female than male physicians. In Finland, Croatia and Slovenia, more than 60.0% of all physicians were women, while in Romania and the Baltic countries this proportion exceeded 70.0%. The highest shares of female physicians were recorded in Latvia (74.3%) and Estonia (72.7%). By contrast, the greatest share of male physicians was recorded in Cyprus (59.6%). Relatively high proportions of male physicians were also recorded in Greece (licensed to practice), Malta, Ireland and Italy (all within the range of 52.4% to 55.6%). The narrowest gender gap was observed in Austria, where men accounted for a marginally higher share of all physicians (a difference of 0.8 percentage points).
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Health graduates
Figure 4 provides information on the number of medical doctors graduating per 100 000 inhabitants. In 2023, there were an estimated 15 medical doctors graduating in the EU for every 100 000 inhabitants. The highest ratios were recorded in Malta (32 per 100 000 inhabitants), Bulgaria (31 per 100 000 inhabitants), Romania (28 per 100 000 inhabitants) and Latvia (27 per 100 000 inhabitants). Most of the remaining EU countries for which data are available recorded ratios of 10.5 to 25.0 medical doctor graduates per 100 000 inhabitants. An exception was Luxembourg, which didn’t report any graduates as it doesn’t offer full medical training; students therefore officially graduate from a medical school in another country. Prior to 2019, there were no physicians graduating in Cyprus.
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A comparison between 2013 and 2023 shows that the number of medical doctors graduating per 100 000 inhabitants rose in nearly all EU countries; the exception being the Netherlands (which had a break in series) where there was no change in the ratio. In relative terms, the biggest increase was recorded in Bulgaria, where the ratio almost trebled (note there is a break in series). Among the countries that did not report a break in series, the largest increase was in Malta and Romania, where the number of medical graduates was 1.8 times higher in 2023 than in 2018.
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
Key concepts
Physicians are split into 2 broad occupational groups
- generalist medical practitioners, which can be further divided into:
- general practitioners (GPs)
- other generalist medical practitioners
- specialist medical practitioners, which can be further divided into:
- General paediatricians
- Gynaecologists and obstetricians
- Psychiatrists
- medical specialists (doctors specialising in the diagnosis and non-surgical treatment of physical disorders and diseases, not elswhere defined)
- surgical specialists (doctors who specialise in the use of surgical techniques to treat disorders and diseases).
Practising physicians provide services directly to patients. They include people who have completed studies in medicine at university level and who are licensed to practise, be they salaried or self-employed, irrespective of the place of service provision. Unemployed physicians, retired physicians and students who have yet to graduate are excluded, as are physicians working in administration, research and other posts that exclude direct contact with patients.
Data on medical graduates for any given year cover the number of students who have graduated in medicine from medical faculties or similar institutions. The data exclude those who have graduated in pharmacy, dentistry/stomatology, or public health and epidemiology, as well as individuals who have completed post-graduate studies or training in medicine.
Healthcare resources
Statistics on healthcare resources (such as personnel and medical equipment) 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.
For country specific notes on these data collections, please refer to the annexes at the end of the national metadata reports, which can be accessed through the links at the beginning of the European metadata report.
Common definitions have been agreed between Eurostat, the OECD and the World Health Organization (WHO) with respect to the employment of various healthcare professionals. There are 3 main concepts which are used to present these data. Eurostat gives preference to the concept of ‘practising’ physicians
- ‘practising’ – healthcare professionals providing services directly to patients
- ‘professionally active’ – ‘practising’ professionals plus healthcare professionals for whom their medical education is a prerequisite for the execution of their job
- ‘licensed’ – healthcare professionals who are registered and entitled to practise as healthcare professionals.
The Healthcare non-expenditure statistics manual provides an overview of the classifications, both for mandatory variables and variables provided on a voluntary basis.
Symbols
In tables, a colon ‘:’ is used to show where data aren’t available. Data in italics are estimates or provisional.
Context
Some health professionals seek jobs in other EU countries: aside from the potential benefits for the individuals concerned, their movement can help rectify labour market imbalances between EU countries. However, some EU countries may experience important outflows of health professionals, which may exacerbate imbalances. Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications provides an EU-wide legal framework enabling EU countries to recognise qualifications of health professionals from other EU countries. A range of health professionals – including doctors – enjoy automatic recognition, in other words, if they are a certified practitioner in their home country then they are automatically entitled to practise anywhere else in the EU. The directive defines basic medical training as comprising a total of at least 6 years of university study or 5 500 hours of theoretical and practical training.
In the coming decades, population ageing is expected to be a major challenge for the EU’s health sector. The demand for health care will probably increase substantially as a result of an ageing population and at the same time the proportion of people in work will probably decline. As a result, staff shortages in certain medical specialisations or geographic areas may increase. In 2023, approximately one third of all doctors in the EU were aged 55 years or over.
An action plan for the EU health workforce (SWD(2012) 093 final) seeks to help EU countries tackle these challenges, by: improving workforce planning and forecasting; anticipating future skills’ needs; improving the recruitment and retention of health professionals; and mitigating the negative effects of migration on health systems. Between 2013 and 2016, there was a joint action on health workforce planning and forecasting with 30 associated partners and 34 collaborative partners (from 28 European countries) working together on advancing the issue of planning and forecasting. Between 2017 and 2021, this work continued through SEPEN – Support for the health workforce planning and forecasting expert network, which released a series of technical reports and regular updates on the EU’s health workforce.
On 7 September 2022, the European Commission proposed a European care strategy. The Commission proposed actions to support EU countries in improving working conditions and work-life balance for carers and to ensure quality, affordable and accessible care services across the European Union.
The European Commission continues to initiate actions which seek to help EU countries tackle this challenge under the EU4Health programme.
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- Health (hlth)
- Health care (hlth_care)
- Health care resources (hlth_res)
- Health care staff (hlth_staff)
- Health graduates (hlth_rs_grd2)
- Health personnel (hlth_rs_prs2)
- Physicians by category (hlth_rs_physcat)
- Physicians by sex and age (hlth_rs_phys)
- Health care staff (hlth_staff)
- Health care resources (hlth_res)
- Health care (hlth_care)
Thematic section
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- Healthcare non-expenditure statistics (ESMS metadata file – hlth_res)
External links
European Union, OECD and WHO
- European Commission – Public health, see
- OECD / European Commission report ‘Health at a Glance: Europe’
- OECD – The future of health systems
- World Health Organization (WHO), see
Other external links
Selected datasets
- Health (t_hlth)
- Health care (t_hlth_care)