Korea ranks 2nd-lowest in number of doctors among OECD nations

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By Lee Hae-rin

Korea has the second-lowest number of doctors after Mexico among OCED member nations, the government announced, Tuesday.

On the other hand, Korea ranked top among the OECD countries regarding the number of hospital beds and outpatient services per capita, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's analysis of the OECD Health Statistics 2023, which is a comparative analysis of health systems.

The study came as the government is pushing to tackle the medical void in the country by increasing the number of doctors, which has remained static for years.

According to the study, Korea had 2.6 clinicians, including traditional medicinal practitioners, for every 1,000 people, which is higher than only Mexico's 2.5 clinicians per 1,000 people among the OECD nations and significantly lower than the OECD average of 3.7 clinicians per 1,000 as of 2021. Austria, Norway and Germany topped the list with 5.4, 5.2 and 4.5 clinicians per 1,000, respectively.

The country also ranked low in the number of medical school graduates ― 7.3 in every 100,000 people, which is third-lowest after Israel and Japan, and nearly half the OCED average at 14 graduates among every 100,000 people.

The number of nurses and nursing assistants reached 8.8 per 1,000 people, which is lower than the OECD average of 9.8 per 1,000. The number of nurses alone was 4.6 per 1,000, showing a greater gap from the OECD average of 8.4, while the number of nursing graduates was 43 per 100,000, much more than the OECD average of 32.1 per 100,000.

In contrast, the demand for medical services appears to remain high.

The annual average number of outpatient care consultations Korean nationals received was 15.7 in 2021, which was the highest among the OECD nations and 2.6 times greater than the OECD average of 5.9.

The average number of days an inpatient spent hospitalized was 18.5 days in Korea, which is the second-highest after only Japan's 27.5 days and over double the OECD average of 8.1 days.

Korea's medical infrastructure also appeared to be above average, with 12.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people. The figure is nearly triple the OECD average of 4.3 beds per 1,000.