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The number in doctors in Luxembourg is below the EU and OECD averages. Library picture: Matic Zorman/Maison Moderne 

With only three doctors per 1,000 inhabitants, Luxembourg has a lower relative number of doctors than its neighbouring countries, notes a report from the General Inspectorate of Social Security (IGSS), published on 11 September, which compares the Luxembourg health system with those in Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The number of Luxembourg doctors is below the average for EU and OECD countries (3.8 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants). And it has only increased moderately in recent years (up from 2.9 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants in 2014).

This figure alone does not signal another problem: the unbalanced geographical distribution of physicians. So-called “medical deserts” in rural areas, though they mainly occur in France and Germany also exist in Luxembourg, the report explains.

An expanding health sector

Meanwhile, the share of health sector employment in total employment has increased in all countries over the past decades. That applies to Luxembourg too, but to a lesser extent. While the share of health sector employment as a part of the country’s total employment increased from 6.7% in 2000 to 10.5% in 2018, this rate remains the lowest among its neighbours.

In addition, the aging of physicians, which is a concern in all countries, is a marked trend in Luxembourg. “The proportion of doctors aged 54 and over is similar for Luxembourg and its neighbouring countries and is around 55%”, notes the study, while emphasising that “with only 5% of its doctors aged under 35 years old, Luxembourg occupies the last place in the ranking for this age group”.

To deal with this problem, all countries have put in place various strategies. That of Luxembourg consists “of defining a three-year training course in medicine, probably from 2021, in the hope of increasing the number of young doctors practising in the country in the medium term”, observed the OECD.

Three nurses per doctor

Nurses, who “have an increasingly important role in providing care,” notes the report, are more numerous than doctors: there are on average three nurses per doctor in 2019. And while Luxembourg, Belgium and France have a lower number of doctors per capita than the EU and OECD averages, they have a higher number of nurses per capita. With 11.7 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants in 2017, Luxembourg is within the average of its neighbours, and above the average for EU and OECD countries of 8.6.

Originally published in French by Paperjam and translated for Delano