FMH statistics show: many doctors are of retirement age
According to FMH statistics, 36,175 physicians were working in Switzerland last year. The long-term comparison shows that primary care physicians in the outpatient sector are practicing more and more beyond retirement age. Both the proportion of women and the proportion of physicians with a foreign diploma continued to rise.
The FMH statistics underline the fact that a total of 36,175 physicians were employed in this country in 2016. Men still make up the majority of the medical profession with 58.7 percent. But the proportion of women has increased by 37.9 percent since 2010.
A majority of 51.1 percent of physicians work in the outpatient sector - 47.3 percent work in the inpatient sector. 23 percent of physicians have a specialist title in general internal medicine, followed by psychiatry and psychotherapy (10.1 percent) and pediatrics and adolescent medicine (4.9 percent).
Doctors of retirement age
The average age of physicians in Switzerland was 49.2 years in 2016, with physicians in the outpatient sector (54.6 years) being more than ten years older on average than their colleagues in the inpatient sector(43.2 years). This is due in particular to the fact that further training up to the award of the specialist title takes place predominantly in hospitals.
If residents are excluded from the consideration of average age, the average age of physicians working in the inpatient sector increases to 46.0 years.
Compared to 2008, it appears that primary care providers working in outpatient settings were significantly more likely to be working past retirement age in 2016. There may be several reasons for this: First, succession planning for a practice is likely to remain difficult, but second, physicians also want to work beyond retirement age regardless of succession planning.
Proportion of foreigners continues to rise
In 2016, 11,900 of the working physicians in Switzerland have a foreign medical degree. This corresponds to a share of 32.9 percent of the total physician workforce. In the inpatient sector, the proportion is 38.4 percent. Most working foreign physicians come from surrounding countries: Germany (53.6 percent), Austria (10.8 percent), Italy (9.6 percent) and France (3.0 percent).
A look at continuing education shows that 44.2 percent of physicians who earned a federal medical specialty degree in 2016 hold a foreign medical degree.
For more information on the "FMH Physician Statistics 2016", please visit this Link
