Israel lost nearly 1,400 doctors over the past three years as physician emigration accelerated sharply, according to a new Tel Aviv University study that found departures were nearly double the level recorded a decade earlier.
Between 2023 and 2025, 1,369 doctors left Israel for at least a year, compared with 705 between 2013 and 2015, a 94% increase. In 2023, 419 doctors left, followed by a record 530 in 2024. An estimated 420 left in 2025, though that figure remains preliminary.
The scale of the loss is equivalent to more than the entire medical staff of a major Israeli hospital. Shaare Zedek Medical Center employs about 1,000 doctors, Soroka Medical Center about 900 and Shamir Medical Center about 630.
The study was conducted by Prof. Itai Ater of Tel Aviv University’s Coller School of Management, Prof. Nittai Bergman, head of the Berglas School of Economics, and doctoral researcher Doron Zamir. The researchers cross-referenced official population, education and medical licensing databases to identify doctors who left, their seniority and their specialties.
More senior doctors are leaving
The concern is not only how many physicians are leaving, but who they are.
Doctors aged 45 and older accounted for about 20% of those who left between 2023 and 2025, roughly one in five. A decade earlier, they accounted for 14%, or about one in seven.
Because the total number of departures also nearly doubled, the number of older physicians leaving rose even more sharply. About 100 doctors aged 45 and older left during the earlier period, compared with roughly 270 over the past three years.
That means many of those now leaving are not young doctors heading abroad for temporary training, but experienced physicians who have completed their specialization and are at the height of their careers.
“It’s not only that the numbers are very high, but that 20% are over the age of 45,” Ater told Ynet. “These are not doctors going abroad for a fellowship or further training. These are people at the peak of their professional ability, certainly department heads and senior doctors.”
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“Their departure means that the medical service all of us receive will be worse, but it also hurts the ability to train new doctors,” he said. “These are people who probably will not return. They can receive very high salaries in many places. I have difficulty with the argument that there is nothing to worry about. We are worried, and rightly so.”
The researchers stressed that spending a year abroad does not necessarily mean a doctor has emigrated permanently. Many physicians leave for fellowships, subspecialty training or research and later return. But the growing share of older doctors raises concern that more of the recent departures will become permanent.
That comes as Israel’s health system is already facing another demographic challenge. Finance Ministry data published last week showed that about 24% of specialists employed in public hospitals are approaching retirement age.
Losses across key specialties
The departures span virtually every area of medicine and are especially significant among doctors under 60, the core of the active workforce who are not expected to retire soon.
Internal medicine lost 215 doctors, equivalent to 3.9% of all internists and 5.4% of those under 60. Surgery lost 188 doctors, or 6% of all surgeons and 8.8% of surgeons under 60.
The highest proportional loss was recorded in ophthalmology, dermatology and ear, nose and throat medicine. A total of 116 doctors left those fields, equivalent to 6.2% of all physicians in those specialties and 9.4% of those under 60.
Pediatrics lost 94 doctors between 2023 and 2025, representing 4.3% of all pediatricians and 6.4% of those under 60.
Another 98 doctors left anesthesiology and pain medicine, radiology and nuclear medicine, pathology and forensic medicine. Family and community medicine lost 81 doctors, obstetrics and gynecology 72, psychiatry 51, and intensive care and emergency medicine 39.
No region was spared. The Tel Aviv district recorded the largest number of departures, with 429 doctors leaving over the three-year period, equivalent to 5.4% of all physicians in the district and 7.4% of those under 60.
More leaving, fewer coming back
The researchers found that Israel’s net loss of doctors has also accelerated because fewer physicians are returning.
After accounting for doctors who came back, Israel lost a net 509 physicians in 2023 and 2024 alone, an average of about 255 a year.
Between 2010 and 2019, the average annual net loss was 54 doctors. The recent rate is therefore almost five times higher.
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The study used a strict definition of departure. Doctors were counted only if they were listed in the medical licensing database, spent at least three consecutive months abroad and remained outside Israel for more than 270 days during the first year after leaving.
To reduce distortion from temporary migration, new immigrants were included only if they had lived in Israel for at least three years before leaving. The 2025 figure remains an estimate because the official measure requires a full 12 months of observation.
Researchers warn of a snowball effect
The researchers said the current numbers alone do not yet pose a direct threat to the Israeli economy, but warned that the trend could become far harder to reverse if it continues.
They described the danger as a possible snowball effect in which political, economic or security shocks encourage more highly skilled professionals to leave, and each departure increases the incentive for others to follow.
Israel is especially vulnerable, they argued, because its economy depends heavily on highly skilled workers in medicine, technology and other knowledge-intensive sectors rather than on natural resources.
Ater said the departure of nearly 1,400 doctors is already being felt by patients.
“It translates directly into longer waits, less effective medical treatment and, ultimately, serious damage to our quality of life,” he said.
“If this trend continues, God forbid, the concern grows that there will be irreversible damage to Israel’s resilience.”
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Ater said the sharp increase began in 2023, before the October 7 attack, and argued that the broader political and security situation cannot be separated from the figures.
“Based on conversations with quite a few people who left, it is clear that part of what happened is connected to what has taken place in the country in recent years,” he said. “You cannot disconnect that from the jump we saw.”
He said the researchers do not believe Israel has yet reached a point of no return, but warned that the trajectory is increasingly alarming.
“The situation is serious, but it is difficult for us to say, ‘From here it can no longer be fixed,’” Ater said. “In our assessment, we are not yet at the point of no return. But the trend is very, very frightening, and we do not want to reach the stage where we look back and ask what happened.”
The study follows earlier research by the same team showing a broader rise in emigration among highly skilled Israelis. Their data found that about 100,000 Israelis left the country in 2023 and 2024 combined, including growing numbers of doctors, PhD holders, engineers, academics and high-income earners, while fewer Israelis returned.
“Since 2023, the State of Israel has been losing some of its best people,” Ater said. “We all have family members waiting for surgery or other medical treatment. The departure of close to 1,400 doctors translates directly into longer waits, less effective treatment and serious damage to our quality of life.”