Which German Federal States Have The Most Doctors?

Key Takeaways

• Bremen posts the highest doctor density nationwide at 305.5 physicians per 100,000 residents. Hamburg and Berlin follow at 304.6 and 292.5.
• Outside the three city-states, density across the other 14 regions ranges from 197.2 in Brandenburg to 239.6 in Nordrhein. This shows a band of about 42 points. Bremen’s density is still 55% higher than Brandenburg’s, the largest gap in the country.
• Within general specialist care, Germany’s planning system assigns cities a higher target ratio when they treat patients from surrounding districts. Brandenburg encircles Berlin. It receives a lower target under that same rule. That mechanism drives the gap between the city-states and the rest of the country.

Doctor Density by German Region

Stay tuned!

Learn something new about Germany every week and make informed decisions with confidence.

Stay tuned!

Learn something new about Germany every week and make informed decisions with confidence.

Bremen’s doctor density runs 55% higher than Brandenburg’s. It is the largest gap in the country. The story behind that gap is about how Germany decides where doctors are allowed to practice at all.

Bremen ranks first in doctor density nationwide at 305.5 physicians per 100,000 residents. Hamburg ranks second at 304.6. Berlin ranks third at 292.5.

Germany’s physician planning system divides care into separate tiers. General specialist care is the tier covering specialists such as gynecologists and dermatologists. It is the one behind this gap. Within each tier, planning authorities assign every region a target ratio of doctors to residents. That ratio determines how many doctors are allowed to register there. Cities that treat patients from surrounding districts receive a higher target ratio. The districts drawing on them receive a lower one in return. Bremen, Hamburg, and Berlin are independent city-states within larger metropolitan areas.

The remaining 14 regions span 197.2 to 239.6. That is a band of about 42 points. It is a narrower spread than the 53-point gap separating Berlin from Nordrhein.

Brandenburg sits at the bottom of this ranking. The region encircles Berlin. Within that same tier, the rule that gives Berlin a higher target gives Brandenburg a lower one. Brandenburg’s low ranking does not reflect a shortfall in care.

Where a region sits in Germany’s physician planning hierarchy explains far more about its doctor density than population size alone. That hierarchy produces the country’s sharpest density gap at the edge of three city-state borders, not along any historical east-west line. A region’s tier in that system, not a shortage of doctors, separates the top of this ranking from the bottom.