The table and bar charts illustrate information about healthcare professionals in Australia from 1986 to 2006. In general, the number of physicians in Australia rose constantly. It’s also clear that there were more male practitioners than their counterparts in all three years. Although in the first two years more medical practitioners were born in Australia, in the last year the same figure occurred in the last year.
The figure for the physicians gradually declined every year. In 1986, in Australia, the figure for the male medical professionals reached its peak, with just under 80%, which was almost 75%, while that of the figure for the females was almost three times lower, which stood just above roughly 25%. In 1996, the figure for the males declined, declining by approximately 10 percentage points (nearly 67); however, the shares of female practitioners increased, reaching almost 34% in 1996 and increasing further to nearly 40% in 2006. In the same year, male physicians accounted for just above 60%. Interestingly, despite increasing consistently throughout the period, the figure for the female medical professionals stayed at a lower level than the male ones.
Regarding the place of birth, the same can be said with the figures. While the Australian healthcare workers declined consistently, the rate for the foreign professionals rose progressively. In 1986, the majority of the practitioners were born in Australia, with nearly 62%. Meanwhile, almost 38% of physicians were from overseas. In 1996, nearly 59% were healthcare professionals from Australia; the figure for international medical practitioners was approximately 42%. In the final year, identical figures can be seen, both of which stood exactly at 50%. Finally, when it comes to the number of practitioners, every year it rose by almost 6,000. In 1986, there were 23,720, which then made up 29,060, rising by nearly 6,000 in 1996. In the last year, they made up 35,450 in total.