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As of the end of 2020, there were around *** practicing physicians per 100,000 inhabitants in Japan, up from approximately *** in 2018. The total number of physicians engaging in medical care amounted to roughly thousand in 2020. Despite keeping the highest numbers and density of hospitals worldwide, Japan is not included in the list of leading countries when it comes to the count and density of physicians. Japanese hospitals are, therefore, repeatedly said to be suffering from the shortage of physicians and other medical staff.

Profile of physicians

In 2020, the average age of all registered physicians in Japan was **** years old, indicating a constant increase in the last two decades. Of the total, around ** percent were female physicians. Tokushima Prefecture had the highest number of physicians among all ** prefectures, with about physicians available per 100,000 population.

Physicians employed at hospitals

In Japan, medical facilities can be divided into two categories: hospitals and medical clinics. Japanese hospitals have facilities for the admission of ** or more inpatients, while medical clinics provide a smaller scale of services. In 2020, the number of physicians working at hospitals exceeded *** thousand, showing a continuous growth in recent years. In terms of specialty, the highest number of physicians, around ** thousand, were working at internal medicine departments in the hospitals. Roughly **** thousand were specializing in surgery.