Europe’s health care workforce is rapidly aging, according to new figures released by Eurostat on Thursday, as health services grapple with labor shortfalls for growing health care demands.
Doctors aged 55 years and over accounted for more than 40 percent of physicians in 12 EU countries, in 2022.
Italy reported the highest share of physicians aged 65 years or older at nearly 27 percent, followed by Hungary and Estonia with over 22 percent.
In Germany, over 36 percent of doctors are aged between 55 and 64 — the highest share in this category. It’s followed Bulgaria at nearly 34 percent and Latvia with over 27 percent.
The figures are in stark contrast to the proportion of older medics in Europe less than two decades ago.
Compared with Eurostat’s data for 2005, the highest proportion of doctors aged 55 and over was in Lithuania, at 39 percent, Germany came in second with 36 percent and Hungary third with 33 percent.
Notably, there has been a marked jump since then in the reported number of doctors aged 75 and over; a category that barely even existed back in 2005.
Even as the share of older doctors increased, most countries also reported higher doctor numbers in the youngest age bracket since 2005, suggesting more young people are also entering the profession.
In 2022, Malta had the highest number of younger physicians (aged below 35 years old) at over 46 percent, followed by Romania (close to 35 percent) and the Netherlands (almost 30 percent).
In 2022, there were an estimated 1.83 million practicing physicians in the EU — and over 481,000 of them were general practitioners (GPs). The ratio of practicing GPs to residents also varies greatly among countries.
The Netherlands takes the lead, with over 183 doctors per 100 000 people, followed by Ireland (174.1), Austria (146.1) and Cyprus (137.7).
Greece reported the lowest ratio, with only 45.8 doctors per 100 000 inhabitants, followed by Bulgaria (59.8), Sweden (62.2, 2021 data) and Slovenia (68.8).