Income Inequality Alert: Doctors Make Bank – 6.8 Times More Than You!
Income Disparity Between Korean Doctors and Average Workers
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The earnings of doctors in South Korea are nearly seven times higher than the average wage of all workers. This is a significant difference compared to other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members. On the other hand, the number of doctors in South Korea is lower than in other countries, even in the capital region, which attracts all doctors.
According to the ‘Health, at a Glance 2023’ report recently released by the OECD on December 12, the annual average total income of Korean doctors in 2021 was 2.1 to 6.8 times higher than that of all workers, depending on the type of employment and whether they are general practitioners or specialists.
Doctors are typically high-income professionals. Statistics show doctors in Korea and other countries have been earning high incomes.
However, in Korea, doctors earn significantly more than other workers.
Specifically, private practitioners earned more than salaried doctors, and specialists earned more than general practitioners.
The income of Korean doctors compared to the average wage of all workers was 2.1 times higher for salaried general practitioners, 3.0 times higher for private general practitioners, and 4.4 times higher for salaried specialists.
Private specialists earned 6.8 times more than the average worker, the largest gap among OECD countries.
Growth of Doctor Numbers in OECD Countries
From 2011 to 2021, Korean doctors’ average annual actual wage increase was 2.6% for general practitioners and 2.8% for specialists. The average increase in 23 OECD countries was 1.8% for both general practitioners and specialists.
The number of doctors working in OECD member countries increased from 3.5 million in 2011 to 4.3 million in 2021.
The number of doctors increased faster than the population in all OECD countries, with the average number of doctors per 1,000 people increasing from 3.2 to 3.7 over the same period. In Korea, the number of doctors increased from 2.0 to 2.6 per 1,000 people.
The concentration of doctors in major cities is a global phenomenon. However, according to the OECD, the density of doctors in Korea was relatively low in all areas, including the capital region. This suggests that the fundamental problem is a shortage of doctors, not just a concentration in the capital region.
In 2021, the number of doctors per 1,000 people in the capital region of Seoul was 2.73, the highest in Korea, but still less than the average number of doctors in urban areas of 14 OECD countries (4.5) and rural areas (3.2).
The number of doctors per 1,000 people in major cities of other countries was higher than in the Korean capital region, including Prague, Czech Republic (7.72), Vienna, Austria (7.04), Washington DC, USA (6.56), Hamburg, Germany (6.40), the Copenhagen region, Denmark (5.14), Brussels, Belgium (4.09), Ankara, Turkey (3.67), and Mexico City, Mexico (3.03).
By. Park Hong Yong
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