Shortage of Medical School Places Struggles to Match Demand for More Doctors
The Center for Higher Education Development (CHE) has recently released a study that sheds light on the intricate relationship between medical study places, medical care, and the growing demand for doctors in Germany.
The "stickiness effect" of medical study places, where graduates tend to settle near their study location, is a hoped-for outcome. However, despite a 30 percent increase in the number of students pursuing medicine since 1995, Germany still faces a shortage of doctors.
The study reveals that states that offer more medical study places also benefit from better medical care. Yet, the main reason for the different engagement of the federal states in medical studies is likely the high costs of medical faculties. States that create too few medical study places contribute to a structural under-supply.
In the study year 2024, North Rhine-Westphalia had the most first-year students starting human medicine, with 2,334. Despite this, when considering the number of first-semester medical students per 100,000 inhabitants, Saarland, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Rhineland-Palatinate had the highest ratios.
The number of medical study places has only slightly increased from around 9,000 to 10,000 in the past nearly ten years. This is not enough to meet the growing demand, as around 20,000 applicants were unsuccessful in securing a medical study place for the winter semester 2024/25.
The Social Association SoVD warns that the shortage of medical study places threatens local healthcare provision in many regions. Regions with medical faculties tend to have a relatively high doctor density, benefiting not only large cities but also surrounding regions.
Private institutions offering medical studies provide around 1,500 places for new students each year. However, this does not alleviate the shortage, as approximately 9,100 German students are studying medicine abroad.
The gender balance in medical studies is shifting, with around 65 percent of the approximately 113,000 medical students being female. The part-time quota for men in hospitals has risen from 20 to 29 percent over the last ten years, and for women from 33 to 42 percent.
Looking ahead, the newly founded Medical University of Lausitz is set to start operations in the winter semester 2026/27 in Brandenburg, which currently has no state-funded study offer for future doctors.
In conclusion, while there is a growing number of students pursuing medicine in Germany, the high costs of medical faculties and the lack of study places in certain regions continue to pose challenges in addressing the shortage of doctors. The increasing popularity of medicine among female students and the rising part-time quota in hospitals offer some positive signs for the future of healthcare provision in Germany.
