The charts present data about people who worked in the medical field in Australia in three years – 1986, 1996 and 2006 – including their sex and nationalities.
In general, the number of doctors increased significantly over the 20-year period. Additionally, while the percentage of Australian doctors was dominant in all three years, the percentage of male doctors was higher than that of females in 1986 and 2006, although in 1996 the percentage of female doctors rose slightly.
In 1986, the number of medical professionals stood at 300,000. By 2006, however, this figure had grown noticeably, almost tripling to 800,000.
Looking at the genders of doctors, the percentage of male doctors experienced a slight drop from 55% to 45%, whereas the proportion of females grew moderately to 55% in 1996. However, these figures changed again, as the percentage of women dropped marginally to around 47%, while men climbed slightly to about 53% in 2006.
Turning to Australian doctors and other nationalities, the percentage of Australian medical professionals remained almost steady at 60% between 1986 and 2006, except for a slight decrease to about 55% in 1996. Conversely, although the percentage of other-nationality doctors remained unchanged at 40% in 1986 and 2006, this figure grew moderately to 45% in 1996.