Half of the doctors practicing in France are women and more than half are GPs. This is to according to data from France's national statistics agency published this week.
The Directorate for Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES) found that between the beginning of 2012 and the beginning of 2025, the number of doctors overall increased by 9.9 percent.
This has been especially noticeable in the last two years which saw a rise of 1.4 percent between 1 January 2023 and 2024 and 1.6 percent between 1 January 2024 and 2025.
Drees says that as of January this year, 50 percent of doctors are women, a significant rise from 41 percent in 2012.
Of the 237,214 doctors in practice in France (including 100,000 general practitioners), the number of women (118,957) exceeded their male counterparts (118,257) for the first time in 2025.
In specialist sectors, women make up 97 percent of midwives and podiatrists, with a rise seen in the number of dental surgeons in the past 13 years, Drees says.
Rise in foreign doctors
The overall rise in the number of doctors is due to several factors, including more doctors with foreign qualifications.
On 1 January 2025, 11 percent of doctors had a foreign qualification compared to 7 percent on 1 January 2012.
The number of training places has also increased, with a strong uptake between 2000 and 2020.
France moves towards professional equality for doctors trained outside the EU
The study also showed that doctors are getting younger, with the average age down from 51.1 years in 2012 to 49.9 years in 2025.
The proportion of doctors under 40 has increased sharply, from 17 percent at the beginning of 2012 to 31 percent at the beginning of 2025.
