Half of the doctors who practice in France are now women, according to data from the Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES) on the demography of professionals published on Monday, July 28.
As of January 1, 2025, of the 237,214 doctors in activity (including 100,000 generalists), the number of women (118,957) exceeded their male counterparts for the first time (118,257), according to these results. In early 2024, the DREES had counted 117,781 doctors and 115,635 medical women.
The number of general professionals
The profession remains essentially feminine (97%) among midwives, but also among podiatrists, while “it continues to rejuvenate and feminize” among dental surgeons, it emphasizes the drees.
At the beginning of 2025, this institution identified 47,600 dentists, 25,800 midwives and 14,400 in activity.
The number of general professionals increased by 2025 (+1% compared to 2024) and excluding general medicine, the increase is 2.1%.
Since January 1, 2012, the number of doctors has increased by 9.9%, taken both by “an increasing workforce of graduated doctors abroad” and by “the entrance to the activity” of the generations that benefited from the marked increase in Clausus number between 2000 and 2020, underlines the drees.
Doctors mainly have a liberal activity, but more and more often combine with a salaried activity.
Source: BFM TV
