New Zealand’s medical workforce has grown to 21,097
practising doctors, with the latest Medical Council
workforce report also showing changes in who makes up the
profession, where doctors are working and how long they stay
in New Zealand.

Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical
Council of New Zealand has today published The
2026 New Zealand Medical Workforce Survey Report,
its annual look at the size and make-up of the medical

The number of practising doctors increased
by 2.8 percent over the past year, from 20,530 to 21,097.
Over the past five years, the workforce has grown by 15.6
percent, from 18,247 doctors in 2021. The medical workforce
continues to grow faster than New Zealand’s
population.

Council Chair Dr Kenneth Clark says the
report brings together Council’s registration data and
that provided by doctors when applying for their annual
practising certificate to show how the workforce is changing
over time. This provides important information to all those
involved in medical education and workforce

“Knowing who is in our medical workforce,
where they are working and how long they stay gives us a
much better understanding of the workforce New Zealand is
relying on.

“We continue to see growth in the number
of practising doctors. We are also seeing changes in the
make-up of the profession, including a younger Māori and
Pacific medical workforce, more women in medicine and growth
across a number of vocational areas.”

Pacific medical workforces continue to grow. The number of
Māori doctors increased from 1,053 in 2025 to 1,125 in
2026, from 5.5 percent to 5.8 percent of the workforce. The
number of Pacific doctors increased from 519 to 548, from
2.7 percent to 2.8 percent. Both workforces also have a
younger age profile, with half of Māori doctors and 46.2
percent of Pacific doctors aged 34 or younger.

identifying as female now make up the majority of doctors on
the medical register. Women also make up a growing share of
different parts of the workforce, including 56.2 percent of
doctors in vocational training.

The report also shows
continued growth in vocational registration. The number of
practising doctors registered in a vocational scope
increased by 14.6 percent between 2021 and 2026 from 10,713
to 12,278 doctors. Over the same period,
the number of doctors registered in the vocational scope of
urgent care increased by 34.7 percent, diagnostic radiology
by 28 percent and emergency medicine by 27.5 percent.
General practice remained the largest vocational scope, with
4,144 doctors in 2026, an increase of 8.1 percent since

Retention of New Zealand medical graduates
remains high. On average, 99 percent remain in New Zealand
one year after registration, just under 95 percent after two
years and 88 percent after three years.

International
medical graduates also continue to play an important role.
They make up 42.4 percent of doctors who responded to the
workforce survey and 43.7 percent of doctors on the medical
register. Retention of IMGs remains lower than for New
Zealand graduates. Just over 40 percent of IMGs leave New
Zealand after one year and around 60 percent have left after
two years, although retention has improved for more recent
cohorts. Three-year retention was 44.4 percent for IMGs who
registered between 2021 and 2025, compared with 36.8 percent
for the 2016 to 2020 cohort. Their contribution is
particularly evident outside the larger centres. In
Whanganui, 65.8 percent of doctors are IMGs, followed by
South Canterbury at 63 percent and Wairarapa at 55.5

Dr Clark says the information in the report
is intended to be useful across the health

“The value of this report is being able to
look across the workforce and see how it is changing,
including differences between regions and areas of

“We thank doctors for providing this
information each year. It gives Council and others across
the health system a useful evidence base for workforce
planning and decisions.”

The annual workforce survey
is completed as part of the practising certificate renewal
process. For the 2025/26 survey, 20,352 of the 20,912
doctors asked to take part responded, a response rate of

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Original source: nz