The sanitary sector of the European Union faces an acute crisis of workforce, amplified by the old age of the doctors. In Italy, 54% of doctors are at least 55 years old, while countries with the youngest doctors, such as Malta and Romania, are looking for solutions to cope with the deficit
Doctors. Photo: Archive
The European sanitary sector is facing a severe workforce crisis, and one of the aggravating factors of this situation is the rapid aging of doctors, according to Rador Radio Romania. According to the latest Eurostat data, about 40% of doctors in the European Union are at least 55 years old. In this context, Italy is in a very delicate situation, having the eldest doctors in the EU, with 54% of them at least 55 years old.
In general, the European Union has about 1.83 million doctors, registering a slight increase compared to 2021, when they were 1.82 million. However, the labor crisis in the sanitary sector is increasingly obvious, with an insufficient number of doctors to meet the needs of the population.
Among the countries with the highest savings, the pressure on health systems is increasing due to the lack of doctors, wage problems, strikes and older staff. For example, in Italy, where 54% of doctors are at least 55 years old, the rate of young doctors – under 35 – is only 11%, the lowest in Europe, with the exception of Liechtenstein.
In contrast, Malta registers the highest percentage of young doctors, with 46%of them under 35, followed by Turkey (41%), Romania (35%) and the Netherlands (30%).
As for the number of generalists, the Netherlands are best, with 183 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Austria (146) and Cyprus (138). At the opposite end, Greece has the least number of doctors per capita, with only 46 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, and countries such as Montenegro (51), Iceland (56) and Bulgaria (60) are near the last place in the EU .
Italy, although one of the big European economies, ranks 8th in the EU, with 80 generalists per 100,000 inhabitants, being one of the countries with the biggest problems in the lack of medical staff, due to the aging of doctors and the low number of young people who choose to follow this profession.
