New Study: More Doctors Are Needed to Care for an Aging Population

September 05, 2025

Investments in training new physicians are critical as the market grows tighter and more competitive, according to a new study.

Experts predict a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036 as the demand for care heightens with the aging Baby Boomer population, according to data from an Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) report.

“Without funding beyond current levels, the graduate medical education growth trajectories hypothesized in this year’s report will not materialize,” AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD said. “The new data shows a smaller projected overall shortfall, demonstrating that this strategy can work if we continue to invest in the physician workforce.

Here are a few key takeaways:

• Older populations often require more care:  Demographics continue to be the primary drivers for increasing the need for more doctors to meet the health care needs of tomorrow. Since older Americans tend to need more health care and access more physicians, the AAMC projects this trend will lead to a substantial growth in demand, particularly for the specialists they need most often.
• Aging workforce:  A large portion of the physician workforce is nearing the traditional retirement age. Physicians 65 or older are 20 percent of the clinical physician workforce, and those between 55 and 64 are 22 percent of the clinical physician workforce.
• By the numbers:  More than a third of active physicians will retire within the next decade.
• Progress through partnerships:  The medical education community and policymakers are working to meet the projected health care needs of communities. “We must continue to work with Congress to build on their recent bipartisan investments in Medicare-supported graduate medical education," said Skorton.
• Quotable:  “We are looking at substantial shortages of doctors that will not meet our future health care demands. Further, if we succeed in improving access to care for our growing and aging population, which we very much hope to do, then the workforce shortages will be even larger than projected in this report,” said Skorton. “Medical schools have done their part by increasing enrollment by nearly 40% since 2002. We must now expand graduate medical education so we are training more doctors to meet the nation’s health care needs.”

Read the report online.