Here are six statistics shedding light on the dwindling U.S.-based physician workforce:
71,309: The number of physicians who left the workforce from 2021 to 2023, according to Definitive Healthcare's "Addressing the healthcare staffing shortage" report.
6%: The physicians who left the profession accounted for 6% of the overall workforce, according to the same report.
14% and 16%: The percentage of male and female physicians, respectively, who said their burnout is so severe that they are considering leaving medicine, according to Medscape's "Physician Burnout & Depression Report" for 2024.
26%: The percentage of physicians who are considering leaving their primary roles as physicians to pivot to nonclinical careers, according to Medscape's "Physicians and Nonclinical Careers Report 2023."
40%: The percentage of active physicians in the U.S. who will be 65 or older in the next 10 years, according to a 2021 report by the Association of American Medical Colleges.