Medical demography in Denmark. I. From a deficit to a surplus of doctors

In the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s Denmark like other western countries has experienced a substantial growth in the number of medical doctors. Throughout the country, the doctor population ratio has improved considerably, a number of new specialised methods of examination and treatment have been started, and the need for doctors to work overtime has largely been abolished. At the same time, however, the growth in the number of doctors has also given rise to problems of postgraduate education, unemployment, the emigration. Furthermore, there has been political anxiety about the impact of an ever growing supply of new doctors on the continuous growth in health expenditure. This article briefly describes the development in the number of doctors through the last decades and the status of the current employment of doctors. Problems created by the growth in the number of doctors, and various initiatives to solve the problems and limit the growth in the supply of doctors are examined. A subsequent article will discuss and elucidate the future development in supply and demand on the employment market for doctors. The article begins with a short outline of the Danish health care system.