78% of S'pore-registered doctors are S'poreans, 60% trained locally: MOH

Over three-quarters of the 17,582 registered doctors in Singapore are Singaporeans, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

78 per cent are Singaporean, 15 per cent are permanent residents (PRs), and the remaining 7 per cent are foreigners.

Of the 7,150 foreign-trained doctors here, over half are Singaporeans, 31 per cent are PRs, and the rest are foreigners.

Policy changes

The statistics were shared by MOH in response to queries by The Straits Times (ST) over the government's recent move to expand its list of recognised foreign medical school degrees.

Last month, MOH said it would recognise qualifications from eight more schools in Australia, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Pakistan, China, and the UK.

In 2020, MOH cut the list of recognised medical schools by over 35 per cent.

It added nine more schools in 2025, and then another eight in its most recent review, bringing the total to 120.

More doctors in Singapore

Explaining the shift, MOH said that Singapore faces a growing demand for doctors due to the ageing population.

The "minority of foreign doctors trained overseas" hence helps to augment Singapore's core of local doctors, the ministry said.

Even so, the proportion of foreign-trained doctors in Singapore has, in fact, declined over the years.

It is currently stable at about 40 per cent.

This is even as the total number of registered doctors in Singapore has risen over the past decade by around 50 per cent.

According to MOH, the doctor-to-population ratio in 2024 was 1:343, an improvement over the 1:353 in 2023.

Diverse perspectives

Most doctors working here were also trained in Singapore, comprising around 60 per cent of the total number, MOH said.

This is because local medical schools have ramped up their intake over the past decade, growing by around a quarter.

In 2025, Singapore's three medical schools had an intake of 555, significantly higher than the 320-strong intake in 2010.

Among foreign-trained doctors, over half are Singaporeans returning home to work, while the rest are foreigners who choose to pursue their medical careers here

These doctors bring diverse clinical perspectives, experiences, and best practices from their overseas training, MOH said.

Top image from NUS's website and LKC Medicine/Facebook