Doctors often command some of the highest salaries across careers in nations around the world. But doctor pay by country varies quite a bit, with some physicians in first-world nations taking home considerably more per year than those in smaller or less-developed countries.
Doctor Pay by Country
Switzerland tops the world in terms of doctor pay with physicians there taking home upwards of $388,600 per year. It's not much different in the United States of America, where doctor pay hangs around $316,000/year. But Canada, in position #3, sees a large gap in average doctor pay at under $200,000/year. European countries like France, Italy, Spain, and Poland, see doctors making under $100,000 and closer to $60,000 in some cases. Smaller, developing and underdeveloped nations pay doctors much less, sometimes under $15,000 per year.
Is Doctor Pay by Country Going Up?
Doctor pay is on the rise around the world, according to data from 2023 international averages. Some outlets have looked at average doctor pay in specific countries and noted a steady rise in income year-over-year since 2022. In Switzerland, doctors made an average of $353,505 (320,209 CHF) annually in 2022, which rose up to $388,623 (352,018 CHF) in 2023 for an increase of 9.9%. Doctors in the United States saw income increases between 1.92% to 3.83% from 2022 to 2023, depending on their field of work (physician, specialist, or primary care physician). In Mexico, Festival Pastoralismes noted that doctors made around $9,885 in U.S. dollars (180,000 MX) in 2022 compared to $12,000 USD (218,492 MX) in 2023, an increase of over 21.3%. Doctors around the world experienced a brief decrease in average annual income in 2020 around the pandemic, but United States-based doctors were hit the hardest. Some, like doctors in the United Kingdom, actually saw a modest increase around 34% in 2020. Doctor pay varies widely, but is usually among the highest paid jobs in any country.
