The table compares the number of doctors who practiced in Australia between 1986 and 2006, while the bar charts illustrate the gender distribution and the proportions of doctors of different nationalities over the same period.
Overall, the highest number of doctors who practiced in Australia was recorded in 2006. It is also noticeable that the proportion of Australian doctors remained higher than that of international doctors throughout the period, while the figures for both genders showed some fluctuations.
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 slightly to around 47%, while men climbed 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, then dropped at 55% in 1996. However, although the percentage of other-nationality doctors remained unchanged at 40% in 1986 and 2006, this figure grew moderately to 45% in 1996.
