The Israeli Ministry of Health has recently released a comprehensive statistical report detailing the demographics of licensed professionals working within the medical and paramedical field in Israel for the year 2022.
The data provided by the Ministry of Health reveals that the total number of licensed medical practitioners in Israel throughout 2022 stood at 44,840. Out of this total, a significant number of individuals, precisely 39,768, were less than 75 years old. Further age bracket analysis showed that 33,558 of these licensed practitioners were under the age of 67.
There was a noteworthy increase in the ratio of doctors under the age of 67 per 1,000 population members from 2021 to 2022, rising from 3.44 to 3.47 respectively. Despite this increase, the ratio remains below the average compared to that of other advanced economies globally.
The data further shows demographic trends within the medical profession in Israel. One in every four doctors was over 67 years old, and 39% were under 45 years of age. These figures show a significant increase when compared to the data from 2012. This trend reflects the Ministry of Health’s personnel policy. The influx of doctors that came with the Great Aliya eliminated the immediate need for increased training of new personnel. However, as these expatriate doctors started retiring, there was a delayed response in increasing the training of local personnel.
The report also reveals that out of the 44,840 practicing doctors in Israel, one in every four earned their medical degrees from universities located in the USSR, Russia, or Ukraine.
In recent years, there has been a surge in the population of young doctors, including graduates from local medical institutions. Despite this surge, they still form a minority among the doctors who earned their medical diplomas in 2022. The majority of new medical degree holders obtained their diplomas from foreign institutions, either as Israelis studying abroad or as repatriates. The report reveals an intriguing fact: that 46% of the graduates in the current year are Israeli Arabs and Druze, even though they represent less than 25% of the total population. Overall, the proportion of Arab or Druze doctors stands at 25%, slightly surpassing their representation in the total population of the country.
