Recent Trends in International Migration of Doctors, Nurses and Medical Students
Among the 18 OECD countries for which data are available from 2010/11 to 2015/16, the number on foreign-born doctors rose by over 20%, a much higher growth rate than the overall increase of 10%. As a result, the proportion of foreign-born doctors across these OECD countries rose by 3 percentage points to 27% in 2016. The trend for nurses is similar, with the number of foreign-born nurses increasing by 20% while the overall increase was about 10%, so their share increased by 1.5 percentage points to 16%.
Of all doctors working in 26 OECD countries in 2016, 16% (about 483 000) obtained at least their first medical degree in another country, up from 14.5% (about 424 000) in 2011. The share and number of foreign-trained nurses have also risen to 7% (about 546 000) of all nurses working in 25 OECD countries in 2016, up from 6.6% (about 461 000) in 2011.
There is something wrong. A deficit of 20% of physicians supply that has to be solved by foreign professionals means that nobody is planning future demand. This is a big mistake, a result of political inaction.
