Numbers of physicians and medical students in Europe and the United States

The authors compared data from the early 1990s for physicians and medical students in the United States with data for those in 14 members of the European Union and 15 other European countries within the European region as defined by the World Health Organization. With a total population twice that of the United States, the European countries had three times the numbers of physicians and first-year students, and five and one-half times the number of applicants to medical schools. Europe has a higher density of physicians (an average of one physician for every 335 people) than the United States (one physician for every 472 people). Numbers of medical schools per million people are similar (1.8 versus 2.0), but the average first-year class size is larger in Europe (184 versus 136 students). There is approximately on first-year medical student per 10,000 people in Europe, compared with one per 15,000 people in the United States. It is likely that these ratios will remain the same, since both the United States and Europe have approximately one first-year medical student for every 30 practicing physicians, and the student admission policies of the individual countries appear to mirror the physician-population ratios. There is one applicant for every 2,125 people in Europe; the United States has one applicant for every 5,174 people. Further, Europe has 4.6 applicants for every place in the class, while the United States has 2.6. Finally, the authors provide detailed information about physicians and students in the countries surveyed.