The upward trend in the number of practicing physicians is confirmed in 2026, with a significant increase of 21 full-time equivalent (FTE) physicians in one year as of January 1, 2026, according to figures from the Observatory of Medical Demography published on March 31, 2026, by the French National Medical Council. According to these figures, there were 205,214 practicing physicians (active physicians, excluding locums and active retirees) on January 1, 2026, nearly 4,000 more than on January 1, 2025.
And the increase is expected to continue, according to the Medical Association. Looking ahead to 2040, an increase of around 40% in the number of practicing physicians is now widely accepted."The Medical Council stated in a press release. The Council nevertheless reminds everyone that despite this improvement, Access to healthcare remains a very real and current challenge, with persistent territorial inequalities affecting primary care (general medicine) and, even more so, access to medical and surgical specialists.“.
Specifically, such a significant annual increase in the number of practicing physicians had not been observed since 2010, the last reference year for the atlas. At that time, the number of practicing physicians was 200,045, before declining more or less steadily to a low of 197,417 in 2023.
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Not enough for change the perception of difficulties in accessing healthcare“
“ The increase continues and is accelerating. "Compared to those already observed in 2024 and 2025," commented Dr. Jean-Marcel Mourgues, Vice-President of the Order of Physicians. It's no longer a mere tremor, it's a slight, moderate increase", which unfortunately " is not enough to change the perception of difficulties in accessing healthcare" he indicated. This is all the more true given that inequalities in access to healthcare between different regions are widening."He estimated. There are departments where certain specialties like dermatology are now completely absent," he indicated.
Medical demographics have been suffering for several years from the effects of the numerus clausus, a policy of limiting the number of medical students that began in the 1970s and reached its peak in the 1990s, with only 3,500 students trained each year.
The quota was first relaxed in the late 1990s (reaching 7,000 at the turn of the 2010s), then abolished under President Emmanuel Macron. The number of second-year medical students is now close to 12,000.
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