The Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) published a report compiling the most recent data on selected health professionals, including physicians, to shed light on the impacts of the pandemic on health care professionals, supply and distribution, migration, and physician payments and utilization.
Key findings:
- Supply of doctors
- In 2021, there were 93,998 physicians in Canada, representing 246 physicians per 100,000 population.
- While the supply of physicians grew at 2.0% compared with 2020, the increase was just 1.2% for family medicine physicians versus 2.8% for specialists.
- Dollars and utilization
- Total gross clinical payments to physicians decreased by 2.1% in 2020–2021 to $28.9 billion.
- The average gross payment per physician was $344,000 in 2020–2021, a decrease of 3.4% over the previous year.
- Due in large part to COVID-19–related public health measures, between 2020 and 2021, physicians provided nearly 8% fewer health services in Canada.
- Demographics
- The proportion of female physicians in the workforce continues to rise. In 2021, 49.1% of family medicine physicians and 39.5% of specialist physicians in Canada were female.
- The average age of physicians in 2021 was 49.2: 51.7 for males versus 46.1 for females.
Canadian Institute for Health Information. Health workforce in Canada: In focus (including nurses and physicians) .
