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2023 Health Manpower Survey on Doctors

Key Findings

The doctors covered in the 2023 Health Manpower Survey on Doctors (HMS-DR) were doctors who were fully registered* with the Medical Council of Hong Kong under the Medical Registration Ordinance (Chapter 161) as at the survey reference date of 31 August 2023 and listed on the resident list† of the Medical Register as at 30 November 2023.

The number of doctors covered was 15 720.

Of the 15 720 doctors covered, 5 187 responded to the HMS-DR, giving an overall response rate of 33.0%. Among the 5 187 responding doctors, 4 652 (89.7%) were classified as economically active‡§ (“active”) and 535 (10.3%) were classified as economically inactive‡║ (“inactive”) as at the survey reference date(See Chart).

Of the 4 652 active doctors enumerated, 4 640 (99.7%) were practising in the local medical profession, five (0.1%) were seeking jobs, seven (0.2%) reported to be available for work but had not sought work during the 30 days before the survey reference date due to reasons including: they believed that no work was available in the medical profession, were expecting to return to their original jobs in the medical profession, or were waiting to take up a new job in the medical profession.

The survey results presented in this section were based on the information provided by 4 640 responding doctors who were practising in the local medical profession as at the survey reference date of 31 August 2023 (hereafter referred to as “active local doctor”). As some questionnaire items had missing responses, percentages presented below may not add up to 100%.

  1. Of the 4 640 active local doctors enumerated, there were 2 918 (62.9%) males and 1 477 (31.8%) females. The remaining 245 (5.3%) respondents did not indicate their gender. Among the 4 395 respondents who indicated their genders, the overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) is 198. The median age of the 4 483 doctors who reported their age was 53.0 years.
  2. The respondents were requested to indicate the characteristics of their main jobs. Among the 4 640 active local doctors enumerated, 2 529 (54.5%) reported that their main jobs were working in the private sector, 1 710 (36.9%) in the Hospital Authority, 224 (4.8%) in the Government, 107 (2.3%) in the academic sector and 40 (0.9%) in the subvented sector. The remaining 30 (0.6%) did not mentioned their sector for their main job.
  3. Among the 4 640 active local doctors enumerated, 4 402 (94.9%) reported working in clinical fields and 171 (3.7%) reported to be working in non-clinical fields, while 67 (1.4%) did not specify their main field of practice.
  4. Among the 4 527 active local doctors enumerated who reported their weekly working hours, the median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week was 44.0 hours. Among the 4 640 active local doctors enumerated, 1 740 (37.5%) were required to undertake on-call duty, with a median 16.0 hours of on-call duty per week.

* Refer to doctors registered in Part I of the Medical Register maintained by the Medical Council of Hong Kong under the Medical Registration Ordinance (Chapter 161). These include doctors who hold the qualification of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery issued in Hong Kong (MBBS (HK) / MBChB (CUHK)), Licentiate of Medical Council of Hong Kong (LMCHK) or other non-local medical qualifications that can be registered with the Medical Council of Hong Kong.
† As the 2023 Health Manpower Survey only aimed at covering doctors practising in Hong Kong, doctors on the non-resident list of the Medical Register were excluded from the survey.
‡ In the survey, the criteria used in defining economically active / inactive followed those recommended by the International Labour Organisation, which are also being used by the Census and Statistics Department in Hong Kong.
§ Economically active (“active”) doctors included all “employed” and “unemployed” doctors. “Employed” doctors referred to those doctors practising in the medical profession in Hong Kong as at the survey reference date, while “unemployed” doctors referred to those doctors who (i) were not practising in the local medical profession as at the survey reference date; (ii) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey reference date; and (iii) had sought work in the local medical profession during the 30 days before the survey reference date. The respondent would be classified as “unemployed” if he / she had sought work in the local medical profession but had not been available for work because of temporary sickness. The respondent would also be classified as “unemployed” if he / she fulfilled conditions (i) and (ii) but had not sought work during the 30 days before enumeration because he / she believed that work was not available; or had made arrangements to take up a new job; or was starting business on a subsequent date; or was expecting to return to the original job in the medical profession.
║ Economically inactive (“inactive”) doctors referred to doctors who were not practising in the medical profession in Hong Kong as at the survey reference date, excluding those who were on leave and who were “economically active” but “unemployed”.
Main job refers to the jobs in which the doctors had spent most of their working time.

Among the 535 inactive doctors(See Chart):

  1. 449 doctors reported not seeking jobs in the local medical profession during the 30 days before the survey reference date. The main reasons for not seeking jobs in the local medical profession included: 297 (66.1%) had retired, 52 (11.6%) wanted to take a rest / had no motive to work / had no financial need and 35 (7.8%) were due to health issues.
  2. 77 doctors reported practising overseas, four reported practising in Macao or other areas of the Greater Bay Area, three reported practising in other areas of the Mainland and two were not available for work during the seven days before the survey reference date.

Activity Status of Doctors Covered

Text Version

Activity Status of Doctors Covered

Notes: * Figure refers to the number of doctors who were fully registered with the Medical Council of Hong Kong under the Medical Registration Ordinance (Chapter 161) as at the survey reference date of 31 August 2023 and listed on the resident list of the Medical Register as at 30 November 2023.
† Figure refers to the number of responding doctors who (a) were not practising in the medical profession in Hong Kong as at the survey reference date; (b) had been available for work in the local medical profession during the seven days before the survey reference date; AND (c) had sought work in the local medical profession during the 30 days before the survey reference date.
‡ Figure refers to the number of responding doctors who (a) were not practicing in the medical profession in Hong Kong as at survey reference date; (b) had been available for work in the local medical profession during the seven days before the survey reference date; AND (c) had not sought work in the local medical profession during the 30 days before the survey reference date because they believed no work was available in the medical profession; were expecting to return to the original job in the medical profession, or were waiting to start a new job in the profession at the subsequent date.
§ Figure refers to the number of responding doctors who reported not seeking work in the local medical profession during the 30 days before the survey reference date because of undertaking study or unspecified reasons.
‖ Figure refers to number of responding doctors who were not available for work in the local medical profession during the 7 days before the survey reference date.
Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

25 Nov 2025