Doctors are getting older and older; the younger generation consists predominantly of women

On Tuesday, the Federal Statistical Office published new figures in its medical statistics. This shows that in 2021, one in four doctors in Switzerland was over 60 years old. A total of 25,439 doctors worked in the country.

What is particularly striking is that the offspring are predominantly female. Of those under 45, about 61 percent were women. The medical profession worked in 17,233 medical practices and outpatient clinics. They shared 19,004 full-time jobs. In total, 28.4 percent of these professionals were over 60 years old.

The share of elderly people among primary care providers was 25.5 percent, and 29.8 percent in practices and centers for medical specialist services or with a mixed offer. In 2021, 44.3 percent of the medical profession was female. The share of doctors over 45 years old was 39 percent, while this was 60.7 percent among doctors under 45 years old.

In primary care practices and outpatient clinics, 47.9 percent were women. In specialist and mixed practices and centres, this share was 41.8 and 44 percent respectively.

In 2021, medical practices and centers in twelve cantons were given the opportunity to join the electronic patient file. Every ten medical practices used this. The cantons of Aargau, Glarus, St. Gallen, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Freiburg, Thurgau, Jura, Vaud and Valais were among the twelve cantons. (jn/sda)