South Korea has 55.7 dentists per 100,000 people (practising basis, 2024)

Key stats

Versus the region

What is the population of South Korea?

South Korea had a population of 51,217,221 in 2024, according to MOIS Resident registration population statistics.

What is the GDP per capita of South Korea?

South Korea had a GDP per capita of US$36,239 in 2024, according to World Bank WDI.

How many dentists are there in South Korea?

South Korea had 35,011 licensed dentists in 2024, according to OECD Health Statistics.

How many practising dentists are there in South Korea?

South Korea had 28,836 practising dentists in 2024, according to OECD Health Statistics.

How many dentists per 100,000 people does South Korea have?

South Korea had 55.7 dentists per 100,000 people in 2024 (practising basis), derived from 28,836 practising dentists (OECD Health Statistics) divided by total population (World Bank WDI).

How many dental clinics are there in South Korea?

South Korea had 19,254 registered dental clinics in 2025, according to Providers by year, NHIS management disclosure.

How many dentists graduate each year in South Korea?

South Korea had 641 new dental graduates in 2024, according to OECD Health Statistics.

Tier-1 snapshot

Per-capita rates use World Bank total population for the same year; the national statistics figure stays in the Context table below.

Workforce

Facilities

Self-pay

Digital

Sleep

Context

Local definitions

Population

Resident registration population (주민등록인구): Korean nationals and registered foreign residents, as recorded in the resident register at month-end.

GDP per capita (US$)

GDP per capita in current US dollars (GDP divided by midyear population), converted at official exchange rate.

Dentists (total)

OECD "licensed to practise" (LP): all dentists holding a licence to practise, whether or not currently active; compiled by OECD from national (MOHW) data.

Dentists (practising)

OECD "practising" (P): dentists providing care directly to patients; compiled by OECD from national (MOHW) data.

Dentists per 100,000 population

Headline rate (DECISIONS L4/L5): dentists_practising (practising) divided by World Bank total population, same year

Dental graduates annual

OECD health graduates: students who completed a first dental degree in the calendar year, as reported by Korea.

Dental clinics total

Dental clinics (치과의원) that are health-insurance care institutions (요양기관) per NHIS; excludes dental hospitals (치과병원).

Dental public coverage

건강보험 급여: items covered by the National Health Insurance benefit schedule (급여), as opposed to non-covered (비급여) items paid fully by the patient.

Documented gaps

Reasons: No figure found (gap): we searched and found nothing; Not applicable (structural): the measure does not exist or does not apply there; Source blocked (blocked_source): a source exists but could not be read; Not published (not_published): the authorities do not publish it.

• Dental hygienists total: blocked_source. No reliable public figure retrieved. Licensed vs active hygienist counts differ; MOHW or KDHA table needed. (record)
• Dental technicians total: blocked_source. No reliable public figure retrieved. (record)
• Hospitals with a dental department: gap. No reliable figure. Fetched MOHW data.go.kr dataset 15127855 (hospital and clinic counts by institution type and province): it splits dental hospitals (치과병원) and dental clinics (치과의원) but has no count of general hospitals or tertiary hospitals that run a dental department. NHIS provider table likewise has no… (record)
• DSO share of dental clinics (%): not_published. No reliable figure. No registry or survey giving a chain/DSO share of clinics was found. Not estimated. (record)
• Implant procedures annual: gap. No annual implant procedure count fetched from a primary source. NHI covers only 65+ (2 per lifetime) so claims undercount the market; a claims-based count would need HIRA/NHIS statistics tables (health insurance statistical yearbook) which were not reached. Search found only trade-press mentions and a cohort paper… (record)
• Clear aligner cases annual: not_published. No public figure. Per a peer-reviewed review (PMC8067770, fetched) orthodontic treatment is excluded from the NHI dental coverage-rate calculation, so claims data is unlikely to exist; aligner vendors (Align Technology, local firms) do not publish Korea case counts. Paid industry reports only. (record)
• Self-pay share of dental spend (%): gap. No reliable share. A peer-reviewed review (Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021, PMC8067770, fetched) states that "the coverage rate of dental health insurance was 31.9%" in a 2015 study, and that implants and orthodontics were excluded from that rate, so the true insured share is lower; that coverage rate is not an… (record)
• Total dental spend (US$): gap. No fetched primary figure. Candidates: NHIS/HIRA dental benefit expenditure (won) in the health insurance statistical yearbook (insured portion only), OECD Health Expenditure by function (dental). Neither reached in this pass. If found, local-currency series should be proposed as a new metric (see gaps file). (record)
• Intraoral scanners installed: gap. No public installed-base figure. A market-research page claimed over 50% penetration in Korea and Japan without method or source; rejected under the source policy. Vendor data (3Shape, Medit, Align, Dentium, Shining 3D) or a KDA/KAID survey would be needed. (record)
• Chairside cadcam installed base: gap. No public installed-base figure found. Industry reports only. (record)
• Dental 3d printer installed base: gap. No public installed-base figure found. Industry reports only. (record)
• Adult OSA prevalence (%): gap. No national adult OSA prevalence located. Best peer-reviewed Korean figure is sex-split and age-limited (40-69 y, Korean Health and Genome Study, community sample n=457 with overnight polysomnography, Kim et al., Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2004): SDB (AHI>=5) 27% men / 16% women; OSAS (AHI>=5 plus daytime sleepiness)… (record)
• Oral appliance reimbursement: gap. No allowed-source evidence on NHI coverage of OSA oral appliances; the earlier negative finding rested on a quarantined MOHW page. (record)
• Dental schools total: gap. Number of dental colleges/schools: previous value (11) came from the quarantined MOHW document; no allowed source located. (record)

Data notes

Series breaks: a change in source or definition inside a series. A jump across a break is never growth.

No series breaks documented.

Desk notes on gaps

Tier-1 coverage

Tier-2 scan

• implant_procedures_annual: null (claims only cover 65+, 2 per lifetime; no annual table reached).
• clear_aligner_cases_annual: null. self_pay_share: null (a 2015 NHI dental coverage rate of 31.9% is quoted in PMC8067770 but excludes implants/orthodontics; different basis). dental_spend_total_usd: null.
• ios / chairside CAD/CAM / 3D printer installed base: null. A market-research claim of >50% IOS penetration had no method and was rejected.
• dso_clinic_share_pct: null.
• osa_prevalence_adult_pct: null. Best figure: Kim 2004 (KoGES, ages 40-69, polysomnography): AHI>=5 27% men / 16% women; OSAS 4.5% / 3.2%. Sex-split and age-limited, so not stored as a single value.
• oral_appliance_reimbursement: null. MOHW 2018 release covers polysomnography and CPAP (20% copay) only; no evidence either way for oral appliances. Check HIRA fee schedule.

What a paid or industry source could fill

Implant volumes (Osstem, Dentium filings; KDA surveys), aligner cases (vendor data), IOS / CAD/CAM / printer installed bases (3Shape, Medit, Shining 3D, market reports), DSO share, dental spend and out-of-pocket share (OECD SHA dental function, NHIS coverage-rate detail tables).

Proposed metrics

• dental_hygienists_active and dental_technicians_active (MOHW: 65,409 and 22,874 in 2023); dentists_in_clinics for KR (28,037 work in care institutions).
• dental_hospitals_total (치과병원: 241 in 2024, 245 in 2025).
• dental_nhi_coverage_rate_pct (insured share of dental spend; 31.9% for 2015 per PMC8067770).
• osa_prevalence_adult_pct_by_sex with age band and AHI threshold.
• ios_penetration_pct_of_dentists; dental_spend_local_currency.
• dental_exam_passers_annual (KHPLEI; trade press reports 716 for 2025, not fetched from primary).

Decisions for the project owner

1. Which basis is headline for dentists: licensed (MOHW 32,517 / OECD LP) or active (29,278)? Both are stored.
2. Accept OECD HSG as the graduate figure until KHPLEI tables are fetched?
3. Legacy hospitals_with_dental_dept stays null; a HIRA API key (free, data.go.kr) would unlock it.
4. NHIS webzine is explanatory, not the legal fee schedule; confirm whether a HIRA notice should replace it for dental_public_coverage.

Desk A addendum (2026-11-09): robots.txt on MOHW survey values

The 2023 MOHW Health Workforce Survey figures (kr.dentists_total.2023, kr.dentists_practising.2023, kr.dental_hygienists_total.2023, kr.dental_technicians_total.2023) come from https://www.mohw.go.kr/boardDownload.es?.... The site's robots.txt (checked 2026-11-09) carries Disallow: /board, which covers /boardDownload.es. The cross-check script honours robots and could not re-fetch these four. Decision for the owner: keep (public ministry PDF, a human could open it, read once via a fetch tool) or quarantine until the figures can be confirmed from an allowed source (KOSIS table or KIHASA report).

Sources

• OECD Health Statistics: Healthcare human resources (SDMX API, dataflow DSD_HEALTH_EMP_REAC@DF_REAC) (OECD (data supplied by national authorities, Korea: MOHW))
• Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics (licensing / medical institution statistics) (Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), Korea)
• HIRA healthcare institution status (dental clinic counts) (Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA))
• KOSIS Korean Statistical Information Service (Statistics Korea (KOSTAT))
• Resident registration population statistics (jumin.mois.go.kr) (Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), Korea)
• Providers by year (연도별 요양기관 현황), NHIS management disclosure (National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), Korea)
• Number of hospitals and clinics by type and province (CSV), MOHW (Ministry of Health and Welfare via data.go.kr)
• World Bank WDI: Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL) (World Bank (UN Population Division, national statistics offices and others))
• 2nd Health Workforce Survey (제2차 보건의료인력 실태조사), one-page summary of 20 occupations (한 장으로 보는 보건의료인력 20종 현황) (Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), with KIHASA and NHIS; data year 2023)
• World Bank WDI: GDP per capita (current US$), NY.GDP.PCAP.CD, Korea Rep. (World Bank (national accounts data from OECD/national sources))
• NHIS health insurance webzine, April 2024: 건강보험 혜택 (benefits: scaling, dentures, implants) (National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), Korea)
• MOHW press release 2018-03-20: NHI coverage of polysomnography and CPAP (Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), Korea)
• Kim J et al. Prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in middle-aged Korean men and women. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2004;170:1108-13 (American Thoracic Society (peer-reviewed journal); abstract via PubMed)
• Korean Dental Association (KDA) website (pointer for industry/professional surveys) (Korean Dental Association (대한치과의사협회))

Source registry for South Korea

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