GERMANY'S 30,000 DOCTORS.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXII, Issue 14, 18 January 1910, Page 3

GERMANY'S 30,000 DOCTORS.

Germany is literally overrun with doctors (says the Stuttgart correspondent of the New York World). i)rs. Re\iss and Itosner, of this city, |iave compiled some interesting statistics on the number of physicians in the Empire. The population in 1885 was. in round numbers, 46,000,000. In 1907 it was 61,000,000 —an increase of 30 per cent. In 1885 the number of physicians was about 15,000, or one to every 3000 persons. In 1907 the number of physicians had increased to 30,000, or one to every 2000 persons. The increase in physicians in K this period was, therefore, proportionately more than three times greater than the increase in population. In 1885 about 4,000,000 persons in Germany were insured against sickness, and paid 9,000,000 marks for medical attendance. In 1907 more than 11,000,000 persons were insured against sickness, and they paid 63,000,000 marks for medical attention. Thus the average income of the German physicians decreased from 3066 marks a year in 1885 to 2100 marks a year in 1907. Since |IBBS the relatives of the insured have been supplied with medical treatment in ever-increasing numbers. The insured themselves are clamoring for more treatment. The figures are taken to indicate that, not only are the Germans growing more sickly with the advance of their civilisation and the pressure of their industrial development, but also that they are becoming more fearsome on the subject of their health. The number of imaginary complaints has increased tenfold. Fortunately the birth-rate does not decrease, else Germany would now be in a period of incipient physical decadence.