Does Poland have half as many doctors as the EU average? Why the comparison with Belarus misleads

Publication date: 28 September 2026

Claim

Belarusian state media claimed that Poland has 2.4 doctors per 1,000 residents, supposedly half the EU average and about one and a half times fewer than Belarus. Poland was also described as the EU country with the fewest doctors per person.

Verdict

Misleading. The figure of 2.4 doctors per 1,000 residents for Poland is outdated. Newer Polish and European data show almost four practising physicians per 1,000 residents. The Polish and Belarusian figures also cannot be compared directly without a common methodology: the Belarusian category includes dentists, while Eurostat reports physicians and dentists separately.

In brief

• Poland's figure of 2.4 refers to 2018, not the current situation.

• Statistics Poland counted 141,193 practising physicians in 2024, separately from 36,965 dentists.

• Eurostat reported 141,452 practising physicians in Poland in 2023 and did not rank Poland last in the EU on this measure.

• Eurostat treats dentists as a separate category. Comparing that system with a broader Belarusian category as if both figures measured the same group is unsound.

• This does not mean Poland has no health workforce problems. It means the quoted numbers do not prove the claimed gap.

Why this matters

Doctors per person is often used as a simple measure of access to healthcare. Old data and different definitions can, however, create a false impression about the scale of a shortage and a country's position relative to its neighbours.

Such a comparison can also turn a real issue, such as shortages in particular specialties or long waiting times, into a broader political claim that the selected figures do not support.

What we checked

We checked the wording and origin of the figures documented by the Belarusian Investigative Center, the latest available figures from Statistics Poland, Eurostat's definition of the indicator, and European data on physicians and dentists.

We did not assess quality of care, waiting times, regional and specialty distribution, or conditions in individual hospitals. A national headcount cannot answer those questions by itself.

Evidence

The Belarusian Investigative Center found that Poland's figure of 2.4 practising physicians per 1,000 residents was used for 2018. Newer data put the figure close to four per 1,000. Presenting the older value as a description of the current situation is therefore inaccurate.

Statistics Poland reports that the country had 141,193 practising physicians in 2024. The same release lists 36,965 dentists separately. It also distinguishes practising physicians from the wider group of people licensed to practise medicine, which numbered 166,500.

Eurostat uses three different concepts: practising physicians who provide services directly to patients; professionally active physicians whose jobs require medical education; and physicians licensed to practise. Eurostat prefers the practising-physician measure for international comparisons.

Eurostat recorded 141,452 practising physicians in Poland in 2023. It identified Finland as having the EU's lowest ratio, at 288 per 100,000 residents. Elsewhere, the ratios ranged from 336 in Latvia to 466 in Germany, excluding countries with higher figures. The claim that Poland ranked last in the EU is therefore inconsistent with this table.

Eurostat reports dentists separately from physicians. It also recorded Poland among the EU countries with more than 30,000 practising dentists in 2023. The Belarusian figure used in the disputed comparison includes higher-educated medical specialists providing patient care, including dentists. Without recalculation under one definition, the relationship between the countries cannot fairly be described as an exact one-and-a-half-fold gap.

What remains unknown

The available materials do not provide a Belarusian figure recalculated strictly under Eurostat's practising-physician definition with dentists excluded. We therefore do not claim which country had more practising physicians per 1,000 residents under a fully harmonised method.

A national total also cannot reveal shortages in particular specialties, regions, hospitals or shifts. Poland may have real workforce pressures even though the 2.4 figure and last-place claim are outdated.

Conclusion

The claim combines an outdated Polish figure with a Belarusian indicator based on a different professional category. Current Polish and European data show almost four practising physicians per 1,000 residents, and Eurostat does not place Poland last in the EU. An exact comparison with Belarus requires the same definition, especially separate treatment of dentists. Verdict: misleading.

Sources

1. Belarusian Investigative Center, review of the claim about doctors in Poland and the comparison with Belarus: https://belarusfiles.org/en/fakenews/poland-medicine-eu-belarus

2. Statistics Poland, human resources in selected medical professions in 2024, 28 August 2025: https://stat.gov.pl/en/topics/health/health/human-resources-in-selected-medical-professions-based-on-administrative-sources-in-2024,20,3.html

3. Eurostat, healthcare personnel statistics for physicians, 2023 data: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Healthcare_personnel_statistics_-_physicians

4. Eurostat, definition of practising physicians: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/product/page/tps00044

5. Eurostat, separate statistics for dentists, pharmacists and physiotherapists: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Healthcare_personnel_statistics_-_dentists%2C_pharmacists_and_physiotherapists