OECD - Recent Trends in International Migration of Doctors, Nurses and Medical Students

This report builds on OECD work since 2007 to monitor trends in the migration of health workers to promote more informed policy dialogues between source and destination countries of doctors, nurses and other categories of health workers. The report is divided in two parts and seven chapters.

Part 1 presents an overview of the most recent trends in the international mobility of health workers, looking at the significant contribution that foreign-born and foreign-trained doctors and nurses have made to the growing number of doctors and nurses in OECD countries between 2000 and 2015/16 (Chapter 1). It also provides a synthesis of new analysis on the internationalisation of medical education in OECD and EU countries (Chapter 2), drawing on the results from four country case studies in Europe and a study on the integration of foreign-trained doctors and nurses in Canada.

Part 2 summarises the results of each of these four case studies on the internationalisation of medical education in France (Chapter 3), Ireland (Chapter 4), Poland (Chapter 5) and Romania (Chapter 6), as well as the study on brain gain and brain waste in Canada (Chapter 7).

This report is the joint work of staff in the OECD Health Division and the OECD International Migration Division. The country case studies were prepared in collaboration with national experts and consultants. Karolina Socha-Dietrich and Gaetan Lafortune coordinated this publication and prepared the first two chapters, with the support from Erik Vickstrom (formerly from the OECD International Migration Division) for Chapter 1. Chapter 3 was prepared by Marie-Laure Delamaire (Researcher, IESEG School of Management in Paris) and Gaetan Lafortune (OECD Health Division), Chapter 4 by Mairead Heffron (researcher and consultant) and Karolina Socha-Dietrich (OECD Health Division), Chapter 5 by Anna Jaro (Researcher, Institute of Public Affairs), Agnieszka ada (Director of the European Programme, Institute of Public Affairs) and Karolina Socha-Dietrich (OECD Health Division), Chapter 6 by Marius Ungureanu (Director of Education, Department of Public Health, Babe-Bolyai University) and Karolina Socha-Dietrich (OECD Health Division), and Chapter 7 by Alexia Olaizola and Arthur Sweetman (Department of Economics, McMaster University). Galle Balestat and Eileen Rocard (OECD Health Division) provided statistical support.

Akiko Maeda (formerly from the OECD Health Division) provided an important contribution in designing the project and undertaking the first steps. Jean-Christophe Dumont (Head of the OECD International Migration Division) and Francesca Colombo (Head of OECD Health Division) provided useful comments on the first two chapters. Many useful comments on the first two chapters were also provided by national delegates during and after the OECD Health Committee meeting in December 2018.

This publication has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The content of this report does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.