Albania is is the country with fewer doctors per 10 thousand inhabitants in Europe, even in 2019, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), updated in February 2021.
Although increasing, compared to 2016, when this indicator was 12.2, Albania still has fewer doctors available to its population, at least twice less than the European average of 47.6 doctors per 10 thousand inhabitants.
WHO has also published data in years, when in 2018, the number of doctors per 10 thousand inhabitants in the country reached a record of 21.58, falling again a year later, reflecting the emigration that has involved the medical staff, mainly in Germany.
The second country with fewer doctors in relation to the population, according to WHO data is Turkey, with an indicator of 18.7, with the latest data updated for 2018. Next are Cyprus (19.5), Poland (23.8), Bosnia (21.62). Of the countries in the region, Serbia has the highest number of medical staff (31.1).
In Europe, the record for an expanded body of medical staff is held by Italy, with 80 doctors per 10 thousand inhabitants in 2019, followed by Georgia (70.7), France (66.3), Greece (62.3).
Germany, which in recent years is attracting staff from Eastern European countries, including Albania, has increased the indicator in a decade from 35 to 42 doctors per 10 thousand inhabitants.
The global average is 17.5 doctors per 10 thousand inhabitants. The average indicator decreases due to the low level of medical service in African countries (2-9 doctors per 10 thousand inhabitants), and some regions of Asia (6-9).
Europe is the continent that invests the most in medical care (47.6). The North American average is 25.9 (in the US 26 and Canada 24). The record is held by Mexico, with 48.5.
Brazil, which is currently facing an aggressive wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, has 23 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants. The record in South America is held by Chile (51.8).