Physician density: will we ever close the gap?

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Physician density is a crucial element of a well-functioning health system. Previous research has investigated factors affecting country-level physician supply. To date, however, no evidence has been provided about the patterns of convergence in physician density among countries. This paper thus tested club convergence in physician density in 204 countries worldwide from 1990 to 2019. A nonlinear time-varying factor model was adopted to identify potential clubs, wherein groups of countries tend to converge towards the same level of physician density. Our primary purpose was to document the potential long-lasting disparity in future global physician distribution.

Results

Despite physician density increasing in all regions globally from 1990 to 2019, we found no evid

SUBMITTER: Ferretti F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10201702 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature