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How many doctors is enough to help and heal 10,000 people?

In some countries, there are more than enough medical professionals to go around, while in others, one lone doctor has to work day and night to take care of thousands of people.

For this reason, as part of its sustainable development goals, the United Nations (UN) is really interested in tracking health worker density in general across the globe. A 2016 World Health Organisation (WHO) study found that investing and expanding healthcare workforces improves economic growth, which points to where governments need to pool their resources. If people are healthy, then perhaps they have more chances to be wealthy. Health is wealth, as they say.

A graphic map that ranks the countries with the highest and lowest doctor density (measured per 10,000 population), according to WHO estimates as of 2022, was published by Visual Capitalist, which creates data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

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. Meanwhile, eight African countries have fewer than 1 doctor per population of 10,000. According to the Africa Report, medical students from the continent move abroad to complete their education but often don’t return. In South Africa, that’s called the brain drain.

Image: Visual Capitalist/ Voronoi app

Interestingly, Cabo Verde, a small nation of 10 islands off the coast of Africa, is one of the biggest African outliers with 44.6 doctors per 10,000 population. The country has made strides in expanding healthcare services since it gained independence in 1975. At 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.

In terms of the G7 countries – which is an intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – Germany and Italy lead with 42–45 doctors per 10,000 people, while the US, UK, and France are between 31–32 per 10,000 population. Japan and Canada are significantly lower at 25–26 for 10,000 residents.

South Africa doesn’t appear to be listed on the ranking, but our neighbours are; Namibia appeared at number 31 with 5.4 doctors, Botswana at number 34 with 3.8 doctors, Zimbabwe at number 46 with 1.7 doctors, and Mozambique at number 57 with 0.8 doctors per 10,000 people. Our internal neighbours are wildly different, with Eswatini at number 25 on the list with 15.9 doctors per 10,000 people while Lesotho came 48th with 1,5 doctors.

You can take a look at the full ranking here.

[source:visualcapital]