0:59 — Are there fewer obstetricians in Portugal than in other countries?

Data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show the proportion of gynecologists and obstetricians per thousand inhabitants in the 21 member states of the European Union since 2000.

According to the latest indicator from 2019, Portugal ranks 10th with 0.18 doctors per thousand inhabitants. The Portuguese figure is between Slovenia and Luxembourg, below countries such as Greece, Germany, Austria and Italy, but above 11 other member states such as Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Spain or France. Ireland has the lowest number of midwives per thousand inhabitants: 0.08.

But how many specialists are there in Portugal? In absolute numbers, also in 2019, there are 1,850 obstetricians registered in Portugal. This figure has been continuously increasing since 2000. Now there are 514 more obstetricians in the country than at the beginning of the millennium, that is, an increase of 38%.

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The graph below shows another important indicator: it measures the ratio between the number of available gynecologists and obstetricians and the number of registered births. In 2000, there were approximately 11 specialists per thousand children born. Now there are almost twice as many of them, more than 21 specialists.

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The number of doctors in Portugal has increased across the board. In 2000 there were 31,664 doctors, now there are 54,744, more than 23,000 doctors. There are only two years, 2003 and 2012, on the curve of the annual course of doctors (see the graph below), when the growth of obstetricians outpaced the growth of doctors in the country.

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