Dentists per 100,000 Inhabitants in Europe by Country (2024)
Practising dentists per 100,000 inhabitants across 30 European countries in 2024: 133.4 in Greece down to 26.9 in Serbia, with a median of 81. Eurostat figures.
Data
| # | Country | per 100,000 inhabitants | Change vs 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greece | 133.4 | -3.1 |
| 2 | Cyprus | 130.3 | -1.9 |
| 3 | Bulgaria | 121.8 | +2.8 |
| 4 | Liechtenstein | 121.1 | +0.7 |
| 5 | Luxembourg | 119.4 | +3.1 |
| 6 | Lithuania | 117.2 | +1.4 |
| 7 | Romania | 113.6 | +0.3 |
| 8 | Estonia | 104.5 | +1.8 |
| 9 | Portugal | 103 | -1.7 |
| 10 | Poland | 101.1 | +3 |
| 11 | Croatia | 99.3 | +2.6 |
| 12 | Italy | 87.7 | +2.3 |
| 13 | Norway | 87.5 | -0.3 |
| 14 | Germany | 86.2 | +0.5 |
| 15 | Iceland | 81.5 | +2.7 |
| 16 | Denmark | 80.6 | +1.7 |
| 17 | Sweden | 80.1 | -0.2 |
| 18 | Hungary | 79.5 | +3.1 |
| 19 | Belgium | 78.1 | +6.2 |
| 20 | Slovenia | 76.8 | +0.2 |
| 21 | Czechia | 76 | +1.2 |
| 22 | Latvia | 71.7 | unchanged |
| 23 | Finland | 70.7 | -0.7 |
| 24 | France | 70.4 | +2.4 |
| 25 | Spain | 68.1 | +3.9 |
| 26 | Austria | 63.1 | +1.1 |
| 27 | Netherlands | 57.9 | -0.3 |
| 28 | Malta | 51.9 | +0.8 |
| 29 | Ireland | 47.4 | +1 |
| 30 | Serbia | 26.9 | +0.8 |
About this Dataset
Greece has 133.4 practising dentists per 100,000 inhabitants and Serbia 26.9. The median of 81 works out at roughly one practising dentist for every 1,234 people.
Dentistry is the part of European healthcare that is mostly private and mostly paid for at the point of use. That single fact explains why this ranking looks nothing like the nursing one.
Put the two tables side by side and countries change ends. Bulgaria is third here at 121.8 while sitting near the bottom of Europe on nurses per head; Romania and Lithuania do something similar. The Netherlands and Ireland run the comparison in reverse, well staffed on nursing and 27th and 29th of 30 here at 57.9 and 47.4. Two mechanisms account for most of it. Dental care is largely outside public insurance, so the number of practitioners follows private demand and practice economics. And training capacity varies far more than domestic need does: several central and eastern European countries have long trained dentists at rates well above what their own populations require.
The bottom of the table is the part worth sitting with. Ireland, Malta and Netherlands are high-income countries with well-funded health systems and among the fewest dentists per head in Europe. Where dental care is privately funded and the supply of practitioners is held down by tightly controlled training numbers, price does the rationing that a waiting list would do elsewhere. The panel average is 90.8, +1.2 on 2023; Belgium gained the most over the year at +6.2 and Greece, from the top of the table, lost the most at -3.1.
Every row is the figure published for 2024; no value is carried over from an adjacent year to fill a gap. Switzerland has not published a 2024 figure and is left out rather than carried forward from an older year. The chart tracks a fixed panel of 26 countries: those reporting in every year from 2016. The line therefore moves because the countries moved, not because the sample changed. Figures count practising dentists under Eurostat HLTH_RS_PRS2, per 100,000 inhabitants. Countries differ in whether they report practising, professionally active or licensed practitioners, so a country applying a broader concept will appear better staffed than one using the strict practising definition.
Country pages: Greece · Cyprus · Bulgaria · Liechtenstein · Luxembourg · Lithuania · Romania · Estonia · Portugal · Poland · Croatia · Italy · Norway · Germany · Iceland · Denmark · Sweden · Hungary · Belgium · Slovenia · Czechia · Latvia · Finland · France · Spain · Austria · Netherlands · Malta · Ireland · Serbia