Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New
Zealand’s latest quarterly workforce data shows that women
now make up slightly more than half of practising doctors in
Aotearoa New Zealand.
As at 31 March 2026, women made
up 50.1 percent of the practising medical
workforce.
The latest update also shows an increase in
the number of registered doctors overall. Since 31 December
2025, the number of registered doctors rose by 3.2 percent,
from 20,577 to 21,239.
The number of doctors in
training also increased over the quarter, rising by 8
percent from 3,691 to 3,987.
Medical Council Chair Dr
Rachelle Love said the latest data shows a change in the
make-up of the medical workforce in New
Zealand.
“For the first time, women make up slightly
more than half of practising doctors in Aotearoa New
Zealand. This reflects what we are seeing in recent graduate
cohorts entering the profession.”
“The data also
points to continued growth in the workforce, including in
the number of doctors in training.”
The change is
partly reflected in recent graduate data. Women made up 55
percent of new graduates registered in 2025–2026, and 59
percent in 2024–2025.
The Medical Council updates
its public data dashboards regularly to provide information
about the size and shape of the medical workforce in
Aotearoa New Zealand.
The latest quarterly update
includes refreshed data across dashboard
pages covering registered doctors, vocational practice,
vocational training, and Māori and Pacific Peoples
doctors.
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View the
data dashboard:
https://www.mcnz.org.nz/about-us/our-data/
Notes:
- The
latest quarterly dashboard
update covers data to 31 March 2026. - Women now
make up 50.1 percent of the practising
workforce. - Registered doctors increased from 20,577
to 21,239 over the quarter. - Doctors in training
increased from 3,691 to 3,987 over the
quarter.
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