Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe

4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
Health systems in transition Canada 91
During the 1990s, physician supply grew at an annual average of 1.1% – a
rate that would more than double from 2004 to 2009 due in part to the rapid
expansion of places in Canadian medical schools and the influx of international
medical graduates (Watanabe, Comeau & Buske, 2008; CIHI, 2011b). As a
consequence, the number of physicians per capita has begun to rise in recent
years, a trend already apparent in Australia, France, Sweden, the United
Kingdom and the United States well before the increase in Canada (Fig. 4.2).
Fig. 4.2
Number of physicians per 1 000 population in Canada and selected countries,
1990–2010
Physicians per 1 000
1990
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Sweden
France
United States
Australia
United Kingdom
Canada
Source: OECD (2011a).
Note: In order to create a time series, it was necessary to use data for Australia, Sweden and the United States based on practising
physicians, while data for Canada, France and the United Kingdom are based on physicians licensed to practice.
When comparing Canada with its five OECD comparators in terms of the
number of nurses per 1000 population, it appears that only Australia witnessed
a comparable decline in the density of nurses in the 1990s. By 2005, the trend
had reversed in Canada, and the ratio of nurses to population has increased
since that time (Fig. 4.3).