Age of Retirement Among Norwegian Doctors Aged 55 Years and Older, 1992

There are multitudes of potential reasons for the lack of doctors in rural Norway. Since there are no unemployed physicians, the deficit must mean there are more positions than physicians. Retirement is the single most important reason for doctors ending their career. Hence, the study of circumstances surrounding the retirement of physicians is of paramount significance. The primary objective of this study was to investigate if change in the age of retirement was imminent - was the frequency of early retirement about to increase? This was illuminated by investigating the retirement preferences of practising doctors and the retirement habits of retired doctors. In order to predict the supply of doctors in the 10-15 years following 1992, a questionaire was sent to all doctors who were 55 years or older in 1992. The Norwegian Medical Association keeps a registry which contains information on all their members. This information includes names, birth dates, residential and vocational addresses, positions, cand.med.- and authorization years, specialization certifications and department affiliations. This registry was used to identify the desired respondents. Some of the background variables avaliable through the registry were also used to supplement the data gathered from the questionaires. The study found that the avrage age of retirement was 68,5 years. It was lower amongst younger physicians, women, psychiatrists, and doctors with poor health. It was higher amongst general practitioners. The avrage desired age of retirement for practising doctors was 67,3 years. However, if early retirement was possible without reductions in retirement benefits, the avrage decreases to 65,1 years.

挪威农村地区医生短缺的潜在原因众多。由于不存在失业医生，这种短缺必然意味着岗位数量多于医生人数。退休是医生结束职业生涯最主要的原因。因此，研究医生退休的相关情况具有至关重要的意义。

本研究的主要目标是探究退休年龄是否即将发生变化——即提前退休的频率是否会上升？这一点通过调查在职医生的退休偏好和已退休医生的退休习惯得以阐明。

为了预测1992年后10至15年间的医生供给情况，研究方向1992年所有55岁及以上的医生发放了问卷。

挪威医学会设有一个登记系统，包含其所有成员的信息。这些信息包括姓名、出生日期、居住及职业地址、职位、医学候选人（cand.med.）及执业许可年份、专业认证和所属科室。登记系统中可用的部分背景变量也被用于补充从问卷中收集的数据。

研究发现，平均退休年龄为68.5岁。在年轻医生、女性医生、精神科医生及健康状况不佳的医生中，该年龄更低；而在全科医生中则更高。在职医生的平均期望退休年龄为67.3岁。然而，若提前退休可在不减少退休福利的情况下实现，这一平均年龄将降至65.1岁。