The table and bar charts show how many doctors were employed in Australia and their distribution based on gender and place of birth between 1986 and 2006.
Overall, there was a rise in the number of doctors, with men dominating the field across the years. Also, the majority of the doctors were born in Australia, albeit the proportion of those born overseas showed a steady upward trend.
Focusing on the number of doctors in Australia, it can be observed that it stood at 23,720 in 1986. This figure then had a significant rise to 29,060 after a decade, followed by yet another increase to 35,450 in 2006.
As for the gender of these doctors, males consisted of 75% of the doctors in 1986. Over the following two decades, it experienced a gradual decline to approximately 70% in 1996 and 60% in 2006, making them significantly more involved in medicine than their female counterparts. Women’s proportion, by contrast, accounted for a quarter at the beginning, which then culminated in 40% by 2006, experiencing an upward trend over time.
Lastly, the percentage of doctors who were born in Australia was considerably higher than who were born outside the country in both 1986 (63% to 38%) and 1996 (59% to 42%), respectively. By 2006, however, the figure for both categories became exactly similar, recording 50% each.