The number of primary care doctors per head of population is twice as high in towns as in the countryside.
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2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
There are one per 1,000 inhabitants in towns and cities, compared with 0.4 in the countryside. Doctors in rural areas also work more hours, 8% more per week.
At the end of 2021, 9184 primary care doctors were practising in Switzerland, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) reported on Friday. Of these, 4,785 were men (4,059 full-time equivalent, FTE) and 4,399 were women (3,115 FTE).
Three quarters (74.9%) of these doctors practised in towns and cities, 17.5% on the outskirts of towns and cities or in rural centres, and 7.6% in the countryside. By way of comparison, these three different types of commune accounted for 62.9%, 21.2% and 15.9% of the population respectively.
Another finding is that the population of primary care doctors is becoming increasingly female. By the end of 2021, women accounted for 47.9% of practitioners, compared with just 43.4% at the end of 2018. In addition, more than six out of ten doctors under the age of 45 working at the end of 2021 were women.
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