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Indicator

Physicians per 1,000 by African country

2023

Medical doctors (generalists and specialists) per 1,000 people.

Africa, 202316 of 54 countries
0.3population-weighted average
Highest in 2023Cabo Verde · 0.7Lowest in 2023Niger · 0.0Reported in 202316 of 54 countries surveyed
Click a country to pin it — pinned countries are named on the map. Hatching means no record.
Western Sahara — no separate recordTanzania — no dataDemocratic Republic of the Congo — no dataSomalia — no dataKenya — 0.3Sudan — no dataChad — 0.1South Africa — no dataLesotho — no dataZimbabwe — 0.1Botswana — 0.4Namibia — no dataSenegal — 0.1Mali — 0.2Mauritania — no dataBenin — 0.2Niger — 0.0Nigeria — 0.4Cameroon — no dataTogo — no dataGhana — 0.3Cote d'Ivoire — 0.2Guinea — no dataGuinea-Bissau — no dataLiberia — no dataSierra Leone — no dataBurkina Faso — no dataCentral African Republic — 0.1Republic of the Congo — no dataGabon — no dataEquatorial Guinea — no dataZambia — no dataMalawi — no dataMozambique — no dataEswatini — 0.6Angola — no dataBurundi — no dataMadagascar — no dataGambia — 0.1Tunisia — no dataAlgeria — no dataEritrea — no dataMorocco — no dataEgypt — no dataLibya — no dataEthiopia — 0.1Djibouti — no dataUganda — no dataRwanda — no dataSouth Sudan — no dataNigeria 0.4Nigeria 0.4Ethiopia 0.1Ethiopia 0.1Kenya 0.3Kenya 0.3South AfricaSouth Africa2023HIGHEST IN 2023Cabo Verdenot drawn0.7Eswatini0.6Nigeria0.4Botswana0.4Kenya0.3LOWEST IN 2023Niger0.0Central African Republic0.1Chad0.1Gambia0.1Senegal0.1PINNEDEthiopia0.110 of 16South Africano dataOTHER ISLAND STATES · NOT DRAWNComorosnot drawnno dataMauritiusnot drawnno dataSao Tome and Principenot drawnno dataSeychellesnot drawnno dataper 1,000 · quintiles of the observed range00.10.10.20.40.7no record
20142024
World Bank · national statistics offices · the provider's own estimates where a country has not reportedCC BY 4.0
Countries

By region

Population-weighted, so a region’s figure is the share of its people, not the average of its countries.
Southern Africa2 of 5 countries0.4
Western Africa9 of 16 countries0.3
Eastern Africa3 of 18 countries0.2
Middle Africa2 of 9 countries0.1
Northern Africa0 of 6 countries—
Africaall 54 countries · 16 with a 2023 figure0.3

What to know before you quote this

Specific to this series. For how we treat data generally, see methods.
54 countries have no usable 2024 recordNot a low value — no figure within the window. Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso and 49 more are hatched on the map and blank in the table.
Certainty is judged year by yearA country can be Reported in one year and Modelled the next. The tag follows the year on the scrubber, so the 2024 assessment is not a verdict on the whole series.

About this data

Physicians per 1,000Medical doctors (generalists and specialists) per 1,000 people.
SourceWorld Bank, with processing by Africa API
Unitper 1,000
Last updated15 Oct 2026
Next expected updateOct 2027
Date range1960–2023
Coverage16 of 54 countries · 16 reported, 0 modelled, 38 with no usable figure

How the figure is made

ReportedA national statistics office or the original provider published the figure for that year directly. 16 countries did so for 2023 — the certainty shown on this page is that 2023 assessment, not a per-series one.ModelledNo direct figure that year. The provider’s own estimate, interpolation or projection stands in, and is marked as such wherever it appears.No dataNo usable figure within the window. Drawn hatched on the map and left blank in the table — not zero, and not filled in.

These three states are used the same way across every indicator on the site — how we treat certainty explains the full set and what we never do to a number.

Reuse and cite

Everything on this page is open under CC BY 4.0 — use it anywhere, including commercially, as long as Africa API and the original provider are credited. The provider’s own licence still applies to their data.

How to cite this page
Africa API (2026) — "Physicians per 1,000". Data adapted from World Bank. Retrieved 18 Oct 2026 from africa-api.com/indicators/physicians
The request behind this view
GET /v1/data?metric_key=physicians_per_1000&year=2023&limit=100

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Physicians per 1,000: most recent figure per country, highest to lowest

16 countries · each with its own period

The figures at the top of the page compare every country in the same year. This list takes each country’s newest figure instead, whatever its period, so the order can differ.

#CountryPhysicians per 1,000Period
1Cabo Verde0.732023
2Eswatini0.562023
3Nigeria0.382023
4Botswana0.382023
5Kenya0.292023
6Ghana0.272023
7Benin0.222023
8Mali0.192023
9Cote d'Ivoire0.172023
10Ethiopia0.142023
11Zimbabwe0.142023
12Senegal0.112023
13Gambia0.092023
14Chad0.092023
15Central African Republic0.072023
16Niger0.042023
Which observations are included?
The ranking includes 16 of 54 countries with available observations for 2023 or later and within 2 years of the freshest result. Each figure shows its reporting period. Countries without an eligible observation are omitted.
Does a higher value mean a better result?
The ranking is sorted by value, from highest to lowest. The order does not rate a country's performance. Interpretation depends on the indicator and its definition.

Embed this ranking

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