America’s missing doctors

IN 1920 THERE were 5m people in America over the age of 65, around 5% of the total. Today there are 56m, and the proportion has risen to 17%. Similarly dramatic shifts in demographics are happening worldwide: the UN predicts that 25% of people in North America and Europe could be over 65 by 2050. Demand for doctors specialising in geriatric medicine, then, is on the rise—and in many places the supply is rising to match. But not in America. Geriatrics is the least popular specialisation in internal medicine (see chart), and the country is facing a shortage. Why?