Among European countries, the countries where doctors earn the highest salaries are Iceland (for general doctors) and Luxembourg (for specialists). Based on purchasing power, the country where specialists earn the highest salary is Germany, and the country where doctors earn the lowest is Latvia.
On the 18th, Euro News analyzed data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to find out how much money general practitioners and specialists make in 25 European countries and what the wage gap is with general occupations.
First of all, as of 2020, the country where specialists receive the highest average annual salary is Luxembourg, with 258,552 euros (349.04 million won, applied at the 2020 average exchange rate). In second place was Ireland, which received 172,882 euros (233.39 million won), and in third place was the Netherlands, which received 160,869 euros (217.17 million won).
Iceland ranked first with an average salary of 144,593 euros for general practitioners. Second place was the Netherlands with 111,301 euros. Excluding these two countries, there were no countries where the average annual salary exceeded 100,000 euros, followed by Finland, the United Kingdom, and Spain, with salaries ranging from 60,000 to 70,000 euros.
Specialists, who have to study more in a specific medical field than general practitioners, have seen their salaries increase by at least tens of thousands of euros compared to general practitioners. For example, in the Netherlands, where general practitioners received over 110,000 euros, specialists received 160,869 euros, an increase of 50,000 euros.
Strangely, Iceland ranked first in salaries for general workers, but for specialists it ranked fifth with 155,276 euros, and the difference in annual salary amount was only about 10,000 euros.
The annual salary of a specialist in Latvia was 24,203 euros (about 32.67 million won), and Lithuania was at the bottom with 22,939 euros (about 30.96 million won). Poland had the lowest at 20,200 euros (about 27.27 million won).
Iceland and the Netherlands were the only countries where general practitioners received more than 100,000 euros, but specialist doctors expanded to Denmark, Iceland, Germany, the UK, Belgium, Finland, and Norway. As the academic process was long and the medical practice itself was difficult, I could see that specialists were treated better.
In the UK, for example, specialists earned 85% more than general practitioners. However, in Germany the difference was much smaller at 20%. In poor countries in Europe, such as Portugal and Greece, even specialists cannot earn more than 50,000 euros per year.
When calculating annual salaries based on purchasing power parity (PPP), which takes into account exchange rates and inflation, Germany and the Netherlands had the highest salaries at 136,010 euros and around there. Ireland followed, receiving 121,743 euros. Other countries where the annual salary of a specialist exceeds 100,000 euros based on purchasing power include the UK, Denmark, Iceland, and Belgium. Latvia had the lowest at 33,835 euros.
In most countries, general practitioners earned 2 to 4 times more than the average wage in 2020, and specialists earned 2 to 3.5 times more, showing that doctors are highly paid professions in any country.
So what about our country? According to data from Statistics Korea’s health and medical manpower survey, the average annual wage of all doctors in Korea as of 2020 was 230.7 million won. The average annual wage of specialists was 236.9 million won, and that of general practitioners was 142.31 million won. Among specialists, the average annual wage of salaried doctors was 191.15 million won, and that of private practitioners was 301.38 million won.
The average annual wage of medical specialists in Korea, 236.9 million won, is higher than the 160,869 euros (approximately 217.17 million won) in the Netherlands, which ranks third in the salary rankings for medical specialists in Europe. The annual salary of the general public in Korea is slightly less than the 111,301 euros of the Netherlands, the second largest country in Europe. However, this is a comparison that does not take into account working hours or intensity.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.