In the 2020/21 academic year, the study site Riga in Latvia was compared with Gdańsk in Poland. This also means that for the first time in a decade, it is not the Polish study site that tops the list of the most popular sites for Swedish medical students abroad. Last year there was a break in the new trend. In the 2021/22 academic year, Latvia overtook Poland as the largest educational country with 623 Swedish students compared to 545 in Poland. Now come CSN’s statistics on the number of students receiving tuition money in the 2022/23 academic year – and it’s clear that this trend has strengthened further.

764 Swedes are studying to become doctors in Latvia and 349 in Poland, which remains the second most educated country. Next comes Lithuania, which has 275 Swedish medical students, and then Romania, where 200 Swedes are studying to become doctors with study funding from the CSN.

Poland has been by far the most popular country in the 21st century. The decline in interest in studying in Poland is due to the fact that medical education, unlike most medical education in the EU, is not accreditation-based, which means that public service (AT) is required. The uncertainty surrounding what will happen when AT disappears in Sweden is great and the Medical Association has advised Swedish people not to apply for medical training in Poland.

A total of 2,095 people studied medical education abroad during the 2022/2023 academic year (funded study). This is a slight decrease compared to the previous school year, when there were 2,159. Over the past 10 years, the number of Swedes training to become doctors abroad has decreased, according to CSN statistics.

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In the 22/23 academic year there were 8,515 students studying to become doctors funded by study in Sweden. Karolinska Institutet has the highest number of medical students (1616) in the 22/23 academic year, while Örebro has the least (623). In Sweden, the number of places in medical education has increased in recent years.

Read also:
Latvia is at the top
Riga is a new favorite among doctors
Fewer people are studying to become doctors abroad
Riga remains number one among medical students abroad
Fewer medical students abroad but more in Sweden

Top five

Number of Swedish medical students with tuition funds. Figures from the 2022/23 academic year

  1. Riga Stradins University, Latvia (748)
  2. Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Lithuania (255)
  3. University of Warmia and Masuria, Poland (106)
  4. Medical University Sofia, Bulgaria (87)
  5. Medical University of Pomerania, Poland (56)

Source: CSN