1,300 doctors left Israel between 2003 and 2005, representing 3% of all the doctors employed in Israel, a new study by Tel Aviv University researchers has found.
When offset by doctors who returned to the country during that period, Israel lost 509 doctors in 2023 and 2024, an average of 255 per year, compared with an average annual loss of 54 doctors in 2010-2019.
Prof. Itai Ater, from the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University and head of the Economists for Democracy Forum, who was one of the leaders of the study, said, "Although we do not know for sure that doctors who left the country emigrated permanently. Doctors also leave for internships, which can last for several years, and then return. However, the difference in numbers before and after 2023 indicates that this trend is not explained by normal study processes."
Moreover, the latest wave of immigration is characterized by the departure of more experienced and older doctors than in the past. In 2023-2025, one in five leavers was over 45 (20%), compared with one in seven in the previous decade (14%). "The departure of more experienced doctors significantly reduces the likelihood that this is a departure that is part of the study process," says Ater.
The specialties with the highest departure rates are surgeons (6.3%), dermatology, ophthalmology and ear, nose and throat (6.2%), neurology, hematology and oncology (5.7%), and intensive care and emergency medicine (4.7%).
In terms of geographical distribution, the rate of leavers from Tel Aviv and the center was higher than the rate of leavers from the periphery, and especially Judea and Samaria. This is due to differences between the doctors both in political opinions and in the opportunities offered.
The study excluded doctors who arrived from Ukraine and Russia in 2022, as most of them moved on quickly.
The Ministry of Health declined respond to questions about the data, and the hospitals also claimed that they were not aware of any cause for concern.
Ater said, "We have been in contact with the Ministry of Health and the hospitals. They are well aware of the phenomenon, and they are very concerned. It is important to say that at the moment the number of emigrants does not pose a direct threat to the economy, but the real danger lies in the possibility that the number of emigrants will continue to rise, creating a negative cycle."
Is there anything the Ministry of Health or the state can do?</i.
Atersaid, "The big jump started in 2023 and that speaks for itself. Doctors' salaries are good and they have a high social status, so we are not sure that the problem is in places where the Ministry of Health can help. There are plans to bring Jewish doctors from abroad, but it is a complex process. The language is different, the whole system is different. In the 1990s, a wave of doctors arrived from the former Soviet Union, who assimilated into the system and it was a miracle for the system, but we saw that in the last wave of those who came from Russia and Ukraine, the majority did not stay. Therefore, we are not sure that this success can be replicated again."
The study was conducted by Ater together with Professor Nittai Bergman, head of the School of Economics, and Doron Zamir, a doctoral student at the Coller School of Management, based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics' 'Accessibility of Data to Researchers' project.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 6, 2026.
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