The European Union is grappling with a significant healthcare workforce crisis, facing a shortage of 1.2 million healthcare professionals as of 2022, largely due to the impending retirement of a substantial portion of its doctors and nurses.

According to the 2024 report from the OECD and the European Commission, titled 'Health at a Glance Europe', 20 EU countries reported a shortage of doctors, while 15 faced a similar issue with nurses during 2022 and 2023.

The report underscores the critical state of the European healthcare workforce, estimating a need for approximately 1.2 million additional doctors and nurses to achieve universal health coverage.

In response to the crisis, Portugal, along with five other EU countries, is implementing strategies aimed at extending the professional lives of doctors through specific incentives.

To mitigate the shortage, many OECD countries have increasingly turned to recruiting foreign-trained healthcare professionals, with a notable 17% rise in such recruitment in 2022 compared to 2019.

Short-term improvements in working conditions and salaries are essential to attract and retain current healthcare professionals, while expanding training opportunities for new entrants is crucial for long-term sustainability.

The number of nurses in the EU has seen an increase over the past decade, rising from 7.3 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012 to 8.4 in 2022, although Portugal remains below this average.

In 2022, the EU recorded an average of 4.2 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants, a significant increase from 3.1 in 2002, with rapid growth observed in countries like Portugal and Greece.

Despite the ongoing workforce crisis, the health and social care sectors employed a record number of individuals in 2022, accounting for 10.1% of jobs across most EU countries.

The report highlights a geographical imbalance in healthcare professional distribution, with major cities experiencing high concentrations while rural areas suffer from shortages, particularly in countries like Portugal and Romania.

To enhance the resilience of the healthcare system, the report suggests that bolstering the workforce will require significant additional resources, estimated at 0.6% of GDP across the EU compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The reliance on international talent is growing, as evidenced by the fact that in 2023, over 40% of doctors in Norway, Ireland, and Switzerland, and about 50% of nurses in Ireland were trained abroad.