La situation actuelle de la démographie médicale en Italie

In 1999, there are 336 000 medical doctors in Italy, as compared to 86 000 in 1964. The present-day ratio is 583 physicians per 100 000 population. Italy has probably the highest level of medical staffing in the world. The medical school intake has been controlled since the early 90's and the annual number of new graduates has recently decreased. However, the number of active doctors has not yet been stabilized. After the recent statistics, nearly 39 000 medical doctors cannot find a job in the various medical fields, i.e. more than 11 % of the profession. Furthermore, a great number of doctors have not a full-time job. Surprisingly, the physician/population ratio is lower in the northern provinces where the per capita GDP is much higher than in the South. The feature evidences the importance of non-economic factors in shaping the geographic distribution of health workforce