Medical Council data shows women now make up 50.1 percent of practising doctors
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.