This indicator presents the number of medical graduates in a given year. Virtually all OECD countries exercise some form of control over medical school intakes, often by limiting the number of available training places. Maintaining or increasing the number of doctors requires either investment in training new doctors or recruiting trained physicians from abroad. As it takes about ten years to train a doctor, any current shortages can be met only by recruiting qualified doctors from abroad, unless there are unemployed doctors at home. Conversely, any surpluses or sudden fall in demand may mean that new graduates struggle to find vacant posts at home. Medical graduates are defined as the number of students who have graduated from medical schools or similar institutions in a given year. Dental, public health and epidemiology graduates are excluded. This indicator is measured per 100 000 inhabitants.