OECD headquarters, Paris. The 30 member countries of OECD are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. © OECD

In the OECD Health Data 2009 database, which was launched on Wednesday, the Paris-based think tank for 30 mainly developed country governments, said responding to demand for more doctors, the percentage of foreign-trained physicians has increased in many OECD countries. It nearly doubled in Switzerland and Sweden and tripled in Ireland and Finland between 2000 and 2007. In the US and the UK, about half the increase in the number of doctors was through international recruitment.

Total health spending accounted for 7.5% of GDP in Ireland in 2007, almost 1 ½ percentage point lower than the average of 8.9% across OECD countries but is in line when thee more useful GNP measure, which excludes the profits of multinationals is used.

The number of doctors per capita increased 2% per year on average across OECD countries between 1990 and 2007, but in some countries the trend is reversing.

The number of doctors per capita in Italy has been falling since 2003, but is still above average. In France, the number of doctors per capita started falling in 2006 after a long upward trend. In both countries, the drops are due to fewer medical school graduates.

Though France has recently increased the intake of medical students, the long training period means the number of doctors per capita will continue to decline in the coming decade. There are fewer medical graduates too in Japan and Switzerland, while in Canada and the US graduate rates are increasing but are still low.

Medical specialists earn more than general practitioners (GPs) in all OECD countries, with the gap widening in Australia, Finland, France and Hungary since 2000. The UK has increased doctors’ pay in the last ten years and GPs now make almost as much as specialists.

The OECD says though generalist primary care is a cost-effective way to promote good health, the number of specialists rose by 60% between 1990 and 2007, compared with a 23% increase in GPs. On average, there are now two specialists for every GP, and that number is even higher in Central and Eastern Europe and in Greece. Some countries have maintained a better balance between specialists and generalists (Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand and Portugal), but that’s changing as the majority of medical students now choose to specialise.

These are some of the findings from OECD Health Data 2009, the most comprehensive source of comparable statistics on health and health systems across the 30 OECD countries. Covering the period 1960 to 2007, this interactive database can be used for comparative analyses on:

• Health status
• Risk factors to health (including smoking and obesity)
• Health care resources and utilisation (including the supply and activities of doctors)
• Long-term care resources and utilisation
• Health expenditure and its financing
• Social protection (including public health coverage and private health insurance)
• Pharmaceutical markets