Switzerland’s healthcare system is facing a shortage that is no longer theoretical. The Swiss Medical Association (FMH) reports that 25% of practising doctors were over 60 in 2025, while one in three general practitioner practices had stopped taking new patients.
The problem is not a lack of doctors overall. The number of active physicians rose 5% in 2025 to 44,612. But demand is rising faster than supply, and the shortage is concentrated in the areas patients rely on most: general practice, paediatrics, psychiatry and gynaecology.
The Retirement Wave
Switzerland is heading into a major generational handover.
A quarter of doctors were over 60 in 2025, and the FMH estimates that 40% of family doctors will need to be replaced by 2035.
That creates a structural problem. Training a doctor takes years, and the pipeline cannot expand quickly enough to keep pace with retirement. The universities have called for a new national programme to increase medical study places and hospital training posts, warning that current capacity is insufficient.
The shortage is particularly severe in primary care. The density of general practitioners has fallen to 0.8-0.9 full-time equivalents per 1,000 inhabitants, depending on the source, below the level considered adequate for universal access.
Switzerland’s Doctor Shortage: Patients Feel It First
The shortage shows up in day-to-day access. In some regions, patients report calling 25 practices before finding a GP who can take them on.
OBSAN, the Swiss health observatory, tracks “patient stops” in primary care as a key indicator of access pressure. A high share of practices refusing new patients signals a potential supply gap, especially in rural and peripheral regions.
The burden falls unevenly. Urban centres with large hospital networks and multiple practices retain more capacity, while rural cantons such as Uri, Appenzell, Schwyz and Thurgau face sharper shortages. In some communities, the closure of a single practice can leave residents without a local doctor.
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Why Is Switzerland Short Of Doctors?
To begin with, Switzerland limits medical school admissions through the numerus clausus and an entrance exam, restricting the number of domestic graduates. Meanwhile, more patients need care as the population grows older, increasing demand faster than supply. Thousands of doctors are approaching pension age, with many working beyond 60. Younger doctors increasingly prefer part-time roles and group practices over solo, 80-hour weeks. On average, one in seven female doctors and one in eight male doctors leave the profession within their first five years.
The result is a system increasingly dependent on foreign-trained doctors. In 2024, 41% of practising doctors held a foreign medical degree, up from 31% in 2014. By 2025, that figure had risen to 43%, and three out of four new doctors were trained abroad, far above the OECD average of about 19%.
A System Under Strain, Not Yet In Crisis
The universities have proposed a new joint programme with the federal government and cantons to expand medical study places and hospital training capacity. The cost is estimated at over CHF 100 million.
The Canton of Zurich is already moving in this direction. It plans to increase medical study places from 430 to 700 by 2030.
Other measures under discussion include:
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Reforming the entrance exam to assess social and communication skills, not just cognitive ability.
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Strengthening primary care by training more general practitioners and internists.
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Expanding integrated care models, where GPs, specialists and therapists work together in health centres.
