The Countries Churning Out The Most Medical Graduates

In response to current and possible future concerns about doctor shortages, developed countries have started churning out more and more medical graduates. According to the OECD's latest Health at a Glance report, Ireland has the highest number of medical graduates per 100,000 of its population at 23.7. A few years ago, Ireland introduced new Graduate Entry Programmes that allowed students who obtained an undergraduate degree in a certain subject to work towards a medical degree in only four years. Subsequently, the number of Irish medical graduates increased sharply.

Denmark comes second in the OECD for medical graduate output with 19.5 per 100,000 people. Australia has 15.8 per 100,000 and it is also notable as the country posting the fastest increase in students finishing medical school between 2000 and 2015. In the U.S, the number of graduates also increased, albeit gradually compared to other countries. With 7.5 per 100,000 of its population, the U.S. trails the likes of Ireland and Denmark , though it is ahead of Japan who have 6.4 medical graduates per 100,000 people.