Physician supply: A change in direction?
CMAJ 1997;157:348
© 1997 Canadian Medical Association
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From the 1970s until the late 1980s, increases in the supply of physicians in Canada outpaced population growth and the number of physicians per 100 000 population increased steadily. This meant that the physician-to-population ratio changed from 1:808 in 1971 to 1:537 in 1989. For the next few years the ratio stabilized close to the 1989 rate.
A recent report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), Supply and Distribution of Physicians, indicates that there was a drop in the number of active civilian physicians between 1994 and 1995; unpublished 1996 data indicate that the number has dropped again. This, coupled with an increasing population, has meant that the number of physicians per 100 000 population has decreased from approximately 189.5 in 1993 to 182.3 in 1996. This marks the first period in almost 30 years in which the number of physicians decreased relative to the population.
Table 1: Population per physician ratios, 1996, by province
Figure 1: No. of physicians per 100 000 population, 1986-1996
This column was written by Lynda Buske, chief, physician resources information planning, CMA. Readers may send potential research topics to Patrick Sullivan (sullip@cma.ca; 800 663-7336, x2126; fax 613 523-0937).
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