Female doctors gain ground in Switzerland

Paramedics and doctors take care of a patient in Bern Keystone

The number of doctors is increasing in Switzerland. Although men remain in the majority, the proportion of female doctors in 2017 was higher than the previous year, according to the Swiss Medical Association. 

Last year, some 39,900 doctors – 58% of whom were male – worked in Switzerland, the association revealedExternal link on Wednesday. While the number of male doctors increased by 0.9%, the number of female doctors rose by 3.9%. 

The average age of all doctors was 48.4, although a difference existed between those in stationary medical care (including many assistants studying in hospitals), which was 43.4 and those working in ambulatory treatment, which was 54.8. 

Women were in the majority in the under-40 age group as well as among medical students. 

The Swiss Medical Association stressed that more doctors needed to be trained in Switzerland, pointing to the fact that many doctors heading for retirement work much more than 40 hours a week, in addition to the increase in part-time work. 

Just over a third (34.1%) of doctors in Switzerland are not Swiss, with most foreign doctors coming from neighbouring Germany (54.4%), Italy (8.6%), France (6.5%) and Austria (6.1%).