Spatial Distribution of Health Manpower in China: Exploring its Characteristics and Determinants

The misdistribution of health manpower is one of the major challenges faced by the Chinese health sector hindering people’s access to healthcare. However, this subject remains underexplored, as spatial distribution characteristics have not been fully mapped out, nor have its causes been determined at the macro regional level. To fill this research void, this study aims to conduct sophisticated spatial analyses to examine the characteristics of health manpower distribution and test various determinants of health manpower densities. By introducing spatial techniques, this study sheds light on the distribution of health manpower in China, thus offering invaluable evidence for making national and regional policies to facilitate a more effective distribution of health manpower in China. On the other hand, this study theoretically modeled and empirically measured various determinants of health manpower distribution from both the supply and demand sides while taking the spillover effect between adjacent geographical units into consideration. Based on the results of the estimation, the health service demand was, as expected, found to forcefully drive the health manpower distribution across the nation. In light of this, the increase in health services demands in a province could significantly help one unit attract licensed doctors and registered nurses from adjacent units. Unexpectedly but intriguingly, the power of medical education capacity was relatively limited in increasing the health manpower density in local units compared to its spillover effect on neighboring units. In addition, government and social health expenditure played different roles in the health labor market, the former being more effective in increasing the stock of licensed doctors and registered nurses, the latter doing better in attracting dentists and general practitioners.