Overall, the number of actively licensed physicians in the United States grew about 3 percent from 2010 to 2012, but some regions of the country experienced greater growth in physician numbers, while some recorded a loss in that time period, according to data from the Federation of State Medical Boards published in the Journal of Medical Regulation.
The following is a breakdown of which regions in the U.S. experienced growth and decline in physician numbers from 2010 through 2012, ordered from greatest growth or decline to least:
Increase in physicians
South Atlantic: 10.4 percent increase
Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida
West South Central: 9.3 percent increase
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana
Pacific:
9 percent increase
Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, Alaska
East North Central: 1.9 percent increase
Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio
Mountain: 0.1 percent increase
Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico
Decrease in physicians
West North Central: 5.9 percent decrease
Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota
New England: 5.7 percent decrease
Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island
Middle Atlantic: 2.3 percent decrease
New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
East South Central: 1.5 percent decrease
Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama
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