How old are Polish doctors and nurses? What does the new GUS report show?

The Central Statistical Office has published a report titled “Occupational Diversity in the Polish Labor Market”—an experimental study that, for the first time, describes the occupational structure of the Polish population in such detail. The data covers 14.1 million people employed in the national economy, as well as an additional 1.4 million people working exclusively under contract-for-service agreements and similar arrangements, as of December 31, 2024. The analysis covered as many as 443 occupational groups, taking into account, among other factors, gender, age, the proportion of foreign nationals, and the susceptibility of the occupation to automation.

Medicine Is Getting Older

One of the most important findings of the report is the progressive aging of the medical workforce. The oldest occupational group in the entire economy consists of medical specialists and dental specialists—their average ages are 56 and 55, respectively. The 50-year-old threshold for average age is also exceeded by nurses with specialist certification, medical laboratory technicians, and healthcare facility managers. The Central Statistical Office (GUS) notes that such a high average age could lead to serious staffing shortages in healthcare in the coming years—especially since doctors have been on the lists of shortage occupations in most Polish counties for years.

Specialists vs. Young Doctors Without Specialization

The report reveals a clear generational gap between physicians who have completed their specialty training and those who have not yet done so. The average age of physicians without specialty training is as much as 20 years lower than that of specialists. Among young doctors, more than 38 percent are under 30, and another 39 percent are between 31 and 40—only slightly more than 12 percent are over 50.

The situation is quite different among professionals: more than 66 percent of them are over 50, and the largest group consists of people aged 60 and older. According to the report’s authors, such a high concentration of workers over the age of 50 may mean that, in a relatively short period of time, a significant portion of professionals will retire at the same time.

A similar, though less pronounced, pattern can be seen among nurses. Age differences between nurses with and without a specialization are most pronounced in the youngest group—those under 30—where those without a specialization clearly outnumber those with one. Among nurses with a specialization, nearly 60 percent are over 50 years old, while in the group without a specialization, this percentage is 46 percent.

A sport dominated by women

Data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS) also confirm the high proportion of women in many medical and healthcare-related professions. Among the most female-dominated professions in the entire economy are midwives and dental assistants, where women account for over 99 percent of the workforce. A high proportion of women—ranging from 98 to nearly 100 percent—was also recorded among medical secretaries, childcare workers, nurses, and medical laboratory technicians.

Working After Retirement

The report shows that more than 619,000 people in Poland continue to work even after reaching retirement age. This group also includes members of the medical professions—specialist doctors and nurses—although professions outside the healthcare sector, such as teachers, salespeople, and administrative staff, predominate here.

The Central Statistical Office (GUS) has made the full results of the study—including spatial analyses broken down by municipality and data on occupations held by foreign nationals—available in the publication “Occupational Diversity in the Polish Labor Market.”