Belgium Has The World’s Most Doctors Per Capita; Ethiopia Not So Much…
This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao, maps and ranks the countries with the highest and lowest doctor density (measured per 10,000 population), according to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates as of 2022.
ℹ️ “Doctors” includes generalists, specialist medical practitioners and other medical doctors not further defined. Depending on the source country, may include only practicing physicians or all registered physicians.
Health worker density in general is an important metric tracked by the UN, as part of its sustainable development goals. A 2016 WHO study found that investing and expanding healthcare workforces improves economic growth.
Ranked: Doctors Per 10,000 Population
European countries, like Belgium, Georgia, and Austria, lead the ranks by the ratio of doctors to resident population. South American countries, represented by Uruguay and Argentina, also make the top 10.
Rank Country Doctors per 10K People (2022) 1 🇧🇪 Belgium 63.9 2 🇬🇪 Georgia 56.1 3 🇦🇹 Austria 55.1 4 🇱🇹 Lithuania 51.3 5 🇧🇬 Bulgaria 49.0 6 🇺🇾 Uruguay 46.3 7 🇮🇸 Iceland 45.2 8 🇨🇻 Cabo Verde 44.6 9 🇮🇹 Italy 42.5 10 🇦🇷 Argentina 40.8 11 🇵🇾 Paraguay 38.8 12 🇸🇨 Seychelles 38.2 13 🇮🇱 Israel 37.1 14 🇳🇿 New Zealand 35.7 15 🇨🇱 Chile 31.7 16 🇬🇧 UK 31.7 17 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 30.8 18 🇧🇧 Barbados 29.7 19 🇲🇪 Montenegro 27.5 20 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 26.4 21 🇨🇦 Canada 25.0 22 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 22.3 23 🇴🇲 Oman 20.6 24 🇵🇪 Peru 16.2 25 🇸🇿 Eswatini 15.9 26 🇸🇻 El Salvador 15.5 27 🇲🇺 Mauritius 12.0 28 🇮🇶 Iraq 10.1 29 🇮🇩 Indonesia 6.9 30 🇧🇹 Bhutan 5.5 31 🇳🇦 Namibia 5.4 32 🇬🇦 Gabon 4.8 33 🇳🇬 Nigeria 3.9 34 🇧🇼 Botswana 3.8 35 🇿🇲 Zambia 2.6 36 🇦🇴 Angola 2.4 37 🇲🇷 Mauritania 2.4 38 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau 2.1 39 🇧🇯 Benin 2.0 40 🇨🇩 DRC 1.9 41 🇲🇱 Mali 1.9 42 🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire 1.8 43 🇱🇷 Liberia 1.8 44 🇨🇬 Congo 1.7 45 🇺🇬 Uganda 1.7 46 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe 1.7 47 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso 1.5 48 🇱🇸 Lesotho 1.5 49 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea 1.4 50 🇬🇭 Ghana 1.4 51 🇨🇲 Cameroon 1.3 52 🇸🇳 Senegal 1.3 53 🇹🇿 Tanzania 1.3 54 🇪🇹 Ethiopia 1.1 55 🇰🇪 Kenya 1.0 56 🇹🇩 Chad 0.9 57 🇲🇿 Mozambique 0.8 58 🇹🇬 Togo 0.8 59 🇪🇷 Eritrea 0.7 60 🇲🇼 Malawi 0.5 61 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 0.4 62 🇬🇳 Guinea 0.2 63 🇳🇪 Niger 0.2 N/A 🌍 World 17.2 Note: Countries with 2022 data only.
Meanwhile, eight African countries have fewer than 1 doctor per 10,000 population. According to the Africa Report, medical students from the continent move abroad to complete their education, but often don’t return.
However, Cabo Verde, a small nation of 10 islands off the coast of Africa is a big regional outlier with 44.6 doctors per 10,000 population. The country has made strides in expanding healthcare services since it gained independence in 1975. In the same time, life expectancy increased from 56 to 75, and the infant mortality rate dropped from 108 to 15 deaths per 1,000 births.
A Look at the G7 Countries
Finally, here’s a quick summary at how the G7 countries do in doctor density, as per the latest estimates from the World Health Organization.
Germany and Italy lead with 42–45 doctors per 10,000 people. The U.S., UK, and France are between 31–32 per 10,000 population. Japan and Canada are significantly lower at 25–26 for 10,000 residents.
Why is Canada’s, a supposedly rich G7 country, number of doctors per 10,000 population sooo much lower than all of the other G7 countries? Why is it sooo much lower than Belgium? Or Cabo Verde? Or New Zealand? Or Ireland? Or 20 other countries in the world? Why is Canada not in the top ten? Top five? Why not number one? What is Belgium doing that we are not?
Why are we not producing more doctors? What is the problem? Who are the gatekeepers? Where is the bottleneck? What is the problem? Nobody is actually DOING something about this.
The problem is that no matter which political party is in charge, provincial or federal, it does not matter. They just don’t care about the people of this country. They are only interested in getting reelected and Canadian voters are stupid enough to believe all of the lies that the politicians spew out of their mouths on a daily basis. The lying gets worse at election time. Voting is a waste of time.
If you want to make a difference, don’t vote. If nobody voted, the politicians will have to do something about that. That would send a message that people are fed up. The system is not worth participating in any longer. It is waaaay too corrupt.