There were 1,672 more doctors in 2024: the subject of much attention due to the difficulties in accessing care, medical demography seems to be showing a positive "tremor", but at the same time territorial inequalities are widening.
According to figures from the 2024 edition of the Atlas of Medical Demography published Wednesday by the French Medical Association, the number of doctors in regular practice (excluding active replacements and retirees) in France increased by 0.81% to 199,089 practitioners as of January 1, 2024.
This number has been declining since 2010, with the exception of slight rebounds in 2018 and 2020, and has now returned to a level comparable to that observed in 2014.
"There is a shift in medical demographics," commented Dr. Jean-Marcel Mourgues, vice-president of the national council of the Order of Physicians.
"The number of doctors in regular practice is finally increasing. Not by much, but it is increasing," he added.
For him, their workforce is now "on a slightly rising plateau."
"This trend is expected to continue and even increase in the coming years," he said.
Another rather encouraging signal from a demographic point of view is that the average age of doctors continues to fall, at 48.1 years compared to 48.6 last year for doctors in regular practice.
Medical density – the number of doctors per 100,000 inhabitants – increased very slightly, to 296.4 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 294.7 last year.
But this raw density should be taken with a pinch of salt, because the population is aging and its need for care is increasing, recalls Dr. Mourgues.
In terms of standardized medical density, which takes into account the aging of the population, "I think we are on a plateau," which "should remain the hallmark of the decade 2020 to 2030," estimates Dr. Mourgues.
"Afterwards, it is likely that from 2030 onwards," standardized medical density "will increase slowly at first, then more and more rapidly," with significant benefits for the population, he indicates.
– University hospitals –
For several years, medical demography has been suffering from the effects of the numerus clausus, a policy of controlling the number of medical students that began in the 1970s and peaked 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 students trained today reaches 11,000 (number of second-year medical students), and should reach 12,000 in 2025.
On the other hand, other signals are not likely to reassure the inhabitants of medical deserts.
"Territorial inequalities are growing ever wider," notes Dr. Mourgues.
"Departments that have university hospitals, with rare exceptions, tend to increase and rejuvenate their medical populations," he says.
On the other hand, "there are departments rather on the outskirts of the region, often with a rural profile and an elderly population - an aggravating factor for the provision of care - which has a medical population which continues to age and which is not getting younger enough," he adds.
According to the Atlas, it is thus "the departments located in the center of the metropolis, around the Paris basin, which are the least well-equipped", such as Indre (145.9 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants), Eure (147.4) or Cher (152.2).
"Conversely, the departments housing the major cities of France, as well as those located on the coasts or at the borders, have the highest densities: Paris (697.4), the Hautes-Alpes (432.4) and the Rhone (414).
In terms of medical density per person over 65 years old – those who will need care the most a priori – the worst situations are found in Indre (514.8 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants over 65 years old), Creuse (546.5) and Nièvre (568.4).
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