The table shows the total number of doctors in Australia from 1986 to 2006, while the tables compare the doctors by their sex and birth place over the same period. Overall, there was a noticeable rise in the total number of health professionals in Australia, with more women getting a job in Healthcare system. Notably, the gap between the numbers of native and foreign doctors in Australia shrunk to an equality.
As for the gender of the doctors in Australia, the shares of male and female doctors followed a reverse trend. In 1986, out of 23,720 doctors, an exaggerating 75% were men and only a forth of them were women. Since then the percentage of male doctors began to decrease, reaching just below 70% after a decade, when the total number of doctors in Australia was 29,060. This pattern continued and after another ten years the share of female doctors was just below 40%.
Regarding the birth place of the doctors, the number of doctors who were from overseas countries increased considerably over the period. Initially, the share of doctors who were born in Australia was over 60%, a figure that then decrease slightly to below 60% in 1986. Being at over 40% in 1986, the percentage of foreign doctors accounted for exactly a half of the total, which was 35,450 in 2006.