Toughen up if you want to be healthy
Nearly 70 countries could face a shortage of healthcare workers by the end of the decade
Get tough if you want to be healthy
Almost one in four doctors in the world could retire within the next ten years. Against this backdrop, the World Health Organization predicts that by 2030, a shortage of healthcare workers could affect up to 67 countries. This is stated in the first annual WHO report on the state of the global health workforce. The document uses official data from more than 90% of the organization's member states.
According to WHO data, almost a quarter of doctors in the world are over 55 years old. In high-income countries, this share approaches one-third. The estimate is based on the latest available data from 122 countries.
In parallel, the population is aging in many countries, which increases the need for medical care. As a result, the aging of both patients and the healthcare workers themselves places an additional burden on healthcare systems.
Over the past 20 years, the global supply of healthcare workers has increased by 52%. In 2006, there were an average of 44.8 doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, or pharmacists per 10,000 people, and in 2025, there are 67.9. The total number of health and care workers has exceeded 70 million people.
At the same time, a significant gap remains between regions. The supply of doctors in the WHO European Region is 13 times higher than in the African Region, and the supply of nurses and midwives is six times higher.
The WHO emphasizes that the shortage of specialists and their uneven distribution continue to limit access to medical care. The organization calls for the aging of the workforce to be taken into account when training, recruiting, and retaining healthcare workers.
Another factor remains the international migration of specialists. In last year's report, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development noted that doctors and nurses often move to countries with higher salaries and better working conditions, exacerbating the workforce shortage in nations where specialists are already in short supply.