The GMC’s Workforce report 2025 signals a notable shift in the UK’s international recruitment trend: the number of doctors with a nonUK primary medical qualification (PMQ) taking up a licence to practise “plateaued” in 2024, ending a pattern of substantial yearonyear increases seen since 2015 (excluding the pandemicaffected year 2020).

According to the report, 20,060 nonUK PMQ doctors took up a licence in 2024, compared with 19,629 in 2023, a level described as “very similar” yeartoyear. While the number remains historically high, the report frames the slowing growth as a change in direction, particularly given the scale of previous increases over the last decade.

Importantly, the report notes that nonUK PMQ joiners still significantly outnumber UK PMQ joiners: in 2024 the number of nonUK doctors taking up a licence was 9,676 higher than the number of UK PMQ doctors doing so. In other words, even with growth levelling off, the UK remains heavily reliant on internationally qualified doctors to maintain inflow to the licensed workforce.

The report also unpacks what is happening beneath the headline number by examining routes onto the register. While overall growth among nonUK routes was “lower than expected,” there was an exception: the report highlights growth in doctors joining from abroad who had sat the PLAB exam (a 27% increase). At the same time, it notes reductions across all nonUK routes to the register apart from IMG PLAB, suggesting a more mixed and potentially fragile pipeline than the topline might imply.

On the UK graduate side, the report states that the total number who took up a licence in 2024 was higher than 2023 partly because there was a 12% rise in doctors who first qualified at UK universities. This, the report suggests, links to an earlier increase in medical school intake (2019/20 academic year) with the majority now graduating.

Why it matters: The report’s framing is clear: plateauing inflow does not automatically mean fewer international doctors overall (the stock can still rise), but it can be an early warning sign when paired with other indicators, such as employment outcomes and leaver patterns about whether the UK continues to offer predictable and sustainable routes into work for new arrivals.