---
title: 'Taiwan clinics by specialty, 2012–2025: psychiatry and urology doubled, pediatrics and OB/GYN fell'
url: https://joelin.cc/en/p/9793
source: https://joelin.cc/en/p/9793
lang: en
pubDate: '2026-10-28'
date_modified: '2026-10-28'
description: Taiwan's registered clinics rose from 20,935 to 24,086 between 2012 and 2025. Psychiatry grew 115.2% and urology 112.9%; pediatrics fell 12.5% and OB/GYN 15.2%.
schema_type: BlogPosting
author: joe
entity_ids:
  author: https://me.joelin.cc/#joe
ai_role: ai_only
translation_assistant: caddy
ai_credit: 'AI-assisted translation and editing: Caddy (AI)'
faq:
  - q: Which clinic specialty in Taiwan changed the most over the 13 years?
    a: In percentage terms, psychiatry changed the most, rising from 204 clinics in 2012 to 439 in 2025, an increase of 115.2%. Urology came second, rising from 62 to 132 clinics, an increase of 112.9%. In absolute numbers, internal medicine added the most clinics, 250 over the 13 years.
  - q: Why are pediatric clinics declining? Is pediatrics really less profitable?
    a: The data in this article can only establish the fact that the number of clinics registered for pediatrics is falling, from 1,604 in 2012 to 1,403 in 2025. That direction is consistent with discussions of Taiwan's continuing decline in births. This article has no clinic revenue or profit data, so it cannot answer whether running a pediatric clinic is profitable.
  - q: Does the decline in OB/GYN clinics mean there are fewer places to give birth in Taiwan?
    a: That cannot be inferred directly. This article counts clinics registered for obstetrics and gynecology, which fell from 835 in 2012 to 708 in 2025. But registering OB/GYN does not mean a clinic delivers babies. Many OB/GYN clinics provide only gynecology outpatient care, prenatal checkups and similar services without handling deliveries; actual delivery capacity would need other data to answer.
  - q: Do dentistry and traditional Chinese medicine have specialist clinics, like urology or psychiatry?
    a: Dentistry has eleven statutory dental specialties, such as orthodontics and periodontics, but in 2025 only 193 clinics in total were registered under them, far fewer than the 7,148 registered for general dentistry. The dental specialist system was established only in 2018, and the matching statistical columns were filled in gradually over the following years. Traditional Chinese medicine has no statutory specialist system at all. The eight TCM division columns in the statistical table are legacy registration categories; their counts have kept falling over the 13 years, to a combined 181 clinics in 2025.
  - q: How does this data differ from the companion article on how many clinics each specialty has (p9779)?
    a: The two articles use different Ministry of Health and Welfare data sources. [The companion article](/p/9779) (in Chinese) uses a single end-of-2025 snapshot of the Department of Medical Affairs facility-level open data to answer how many clinics each specialty has now. This article uses the 14-year statistical table from the Department of Statistics to answer how each specialty changed over 13 years. The two are consistent in definition but calculated independently; they are not two presentations of the same raw data.
translation_of: /p/9793
---

# Taiwan clinics by specialty, 2012–2025: psychiatry and urology doubled, pediatrics and OB/GYN fell

Between 2012 and 2025, the total number of registered clinics in Taiwan (Western medicine, dentistry and traditional Chinese medicine combined) rose from 20,935 to 24,086, an increase of 3,151 clinics, or 15.1% cumulatively over 13 years. Over the same period, specialties moved very differently: clinics registered for psychiatry increased 115.2% and urology 112.9%, while pediatrics fell 12.5% and obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) fell 15.2%. The companion article in this series, [How many clinics each specialty has in Taiwan](/p/9779) (in Chinese), uses an end-of-2025 facility-level snapshot from the Department of Medical Affairs (醫事司) of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (衛福部) to answer a single-point question: how many clinics each specialty has now. This article instead uses the 14-year *Clinic Statistics by Specialty* (《診所科別統計》) table from the Ministry's Department of Statistics (統計處), covering ROC years 101–114 (2012–2025), to answer how each specialty changed over those 13 years. The two use different sources and consistent definitions, and complement each other.

## 1. How the 14 major Western-medicine specialties changed over 13 years

The table below lists the Western-medicine specialties with at least 50 registered clinics in 2012 (14 specialties in all). Nine specialties with fewer than 50, such as neurosurgery, anesthesiology and diagnostic radiology, are left out because their small base years make percentages easily distorted. For each specialty, it gives registered clinic counts at three points (2012, 2018 and 2025) and the 13-year percentage change, sorted from the largest increase to the largest decrease.

<!-- table-scroll-ok: 多欄對照表，英文欄位內容較長，與中文正本同結構，手機橫滑閱讀 -->

| Specialty | 2012 | 2018 | 2025 | 13-year change |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| Psychiatry | 204 | 298 | 439 | +115.2% |
| Urology | 62 | 81 | 132 | +112.9% |
| Neurology | 105 | 139 | 189 | +80.0% |
| Physical medicine and rehabilitation | 298 | 396 | 515 | +72.8% |
| Orthopedics | 328 | 413 | 507 | +54.6% |
| Plastic surgery | 213 | 252 | 293 | +37.6% |
| Dermatology | 463 | 501 | 551 | +19.0% |
| Internal medicine | 1,597 | 1,693 | 1,847 | +15.7% |
| Ophthalmology | 712 | 745 | 771 | +8.3% |
| Family medicine | 1,610 | 1,709 | 1,696 | +5.3% |
| General surgery | 623 | 655 | 656 | +5.3% |
| Otolaryngology (ENT) | 1,089 | 1,128 | 1,144 | +5.1% |
| Pediatrics | 1,604 | 1,514 | 1,403 | -12.5% |
| Obstetrics and gynecology | 835 | 769 | 708 | -15.2% |

Twelve of the 14 specialties grew; only pediatrics and OB/GYN declined. The top four by growth (psychiatry, urology, neurology and rehabilitation) all rose by more than 70%, and all started from relatively small 2012 bases of between 62 and 298 clinics. Internal medicine, family medicine and ENT, the specialties most common among neighborhood clinics, already had bases of 1,000 or more clinics; their 13-year changes ranged from single digits to 15%, making them a large and comparatively stable group.

## 2. Trends at five time points

The two charts below each use five time points: 2012, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2025. The first plots the four fastest-growing specialties; the second plots the only two that declined. Both vertical axes start at 0. Figures for three of these years are in the table in section 1; year-by-year figures are in the original CSV data.

```mermaid
---
config:
  xyChart:
    width: 360
    height: 300
  themeVariables:
    xyChart:
      plotColorPalette: "#3a4a9d, #c0392b, #27ae60, #e67e22"
---
xychart-beta
    title "Top 4 growth specialties"
    x-axis [2012, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2025]
    y-axis "Clinics" 0 --> 550
    line [204, 264, 298, 335, 439]
    line [62, 66, 81, 83, 132]
    line [105, 125, 139, 140, 189]
    line [298, 350, 396, 428, 515]
```

By 2025 clinic count, the four lines from top to bottom are rehabilitation (298→515), psychiatry (204→439), neurology (105→189) and urology (62→132). Urology and neurology were almost flat between 2018 and 2020 (up only 2 and 1 clinics over the two years) and then accelerated again from 2020 to 2025. Psychiatry slowed only between 2015 and 2018 (about 11 more clinics a year) and otherwise added about 18 to 21 a year. Rehabilitation grew at a nearly steady pace throughout, with no clear stretch of acceleration or slowdown.

```mermaid
---
config:
  xyChart:
    width: 360
    height: 300
  themeVariables:
    xyChart:
      plotColorPalette: "#c0392b, #3a4a9d"
---
xychart-beta
    title "Pediatrics and OB/GYN"
    x-axis [2012, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2025]
    y-axis "Clinics" 0 --> 1700
    line [1604, 1532, 1514, 1466, 1403]
    line [835, 787, 769, 755, 708]
```

From top to bottom, the two lines are pediatrics (1,604→1,403) and OB/GYN (835→708). Neither specialty rebounded in any interval over the 13 years; the decline was continuous and steady.

## 3. Growing specialties: psychiatry, urology, neurology, rehabilitation, orthopedics, plastic surgery, dermatology and internal medicine

Psychiatry grew the most in percentage terms, from 204 to 439 registered clinics, an increase of 235. Urology rose from 62 to 132 (up 70); neurology from 105 to 189 (up 84); and rehabilitation from 298 to 515 (up 217). The growth of psychiatry and urology is consistent in direction with recent discussions in Taiwan of rising demand for mental health care and of population aging driving urology-related visits. The growth of neurology and rehabilitation is consistent with discussions of aging driving demand related to neurodegenerative disease and rehabilitation. Orthopedics rose from 328 to 507 (up 179); plastic surgery from 213 to 293 (up 80); and dermatology from 463 to 551 (up 88). These three are likewise consistent in direction with discussions of aging and of rising demand for appearance and skin care. Internal medicine rose from 1,597 to 1,847, an increase of 250, the largest absolute increase of any specialty. Internal medicine was already the most common basic specialty among clinics, so while its absolute gain is large, its percentage increase (15.7%) sits in the middle of the 14. All of these are directional comparisons only; they do not establish a direct causal link between clinic registrations in a specialty and actual patient visits or disease prevalence in that field.

## 4. Declining specialties: pediatrics and OB/GYN

Clinics registered for pediatrics fell from 1,604 in 2012 to 1,403 in 2025, a drop of 201. Clinics registered for OB/GYN fell from 835 to 708, a drop of 127. Both declines are consistent in direction with discussions of Taiwan's low birth rate and continuing fall in births. One point needs emphasis: registering OB/GYN does not mean a clinic delivers babies. Registered specialties are the services a facility declares itself, and an OB/GYN clinic may offer only gynecology outpatient care, prenatal checkups, contraception counseling and similar services without handling deliveries. The figures here describe the number of clinics registered for OB/GYN; they cannot be used directly as the number of clinics offering delivery services or as a measure of obstetric capacity.

## 5. Large, stable specialties: family medicine, ENT, ophthalmology and general surgery

Family medicine rose from 1,610 to 1,696 clinics, a 13-year change of 5.3%; ENT from 1,089 to 1,144 (5.1%); ophthalmology from 712 to 771 (8.3%); and general surgery from 623 to 656 (5.3%). All four are large specialties with 600 or more registered clinics, and their 13-year changes all fall between about 5% and 8%. Compared with psychiatry and urology, which moved by 70% or more, they form a large group with gentle change, broadly maintaining their existing clinic supply over the 13 years.

## 6. Why the dental and TCM division columns are nearly empty

In 2025, 7,148 clinics were registered for general dentistry. In the same year, the eleven dental specialties (oral pathology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, periodontics, pediatric dentistry, endodontics, prosthodontics, operative dentistry, family dentistry, special needs dentistry and implant dentistry) had only 193 clinics combined, less than 3% of the general-dentistry figure. The reason is institutional: Taiwan's statutory dental specialist system was established only in 2018, and the Department of Statistics added the corresponding columns to this table gradually after that. Most columns, including periodontics, pediatric dentistry and endodontics, first recorded a non-blank value in 2020 or 2021. In the earlier years (2012 to 2019) these columns are blank rather than zero, and this article marks them as "no data" rather than 0.

In 2025, 4,230 clinics were registered for general traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In the same year, the eight TCM divisions (TCM internal medicine, TCM external medicine, TCM ophthalmology, TCM pediatrics, TCM gynecology, TCM traumatology, TCM acupuncture and TCM proctology) had only 181 clinics combined, likewise less than 5% of the general-TCM figure. Unlike dentistry, these eight columns are not missing data; every one of them declined over the 13 years. TCM internal medicine fell from 99 to 52 clinics, TCM external medicine from 22 to 16, TCM ophthalmology from 21 to 17, TCM pediatrics from 22 to 16, TCM gynecology from 38 to 21, TCM traumatology from 37 to 23, TCM acupuncture from 33 to 21, and TCM proctology from 19 to 15. The reason is again institutional: TCM in Taiwan still has no statutory specialist system. TCM physicians do not need, and cannot obtain, a statutory specialist certificate in the way Western-medicine doctors and dentists can. These eight division columns are categories the Department of Statistics retained from older registration practice, and their shrinking counts relate to the fact that the system never developed these divisions further. This article does not speculate further about that institutional gap.

## 7. Data source and scope

The figures in this article come from the *Clinic Statistics by Specialty* open dataset of the Ministry of Health and Welfare Department of Statistics ([data.gov.tw/dataset/6477](https://data.gov.tw/dataset/6477)). It covers 14 years, ROC years 101 to 114 (2012 to 2025), with one record per year-end, and the dataset is updated once a year. Five points about how this table counts clinics are worth noting:

1. Each column is "the number of clinics registered for a given specialty", not "the number of clinics that practice only that specialty". A clinic registered for several specialties is counted once under each, so the specialty counts add up to more than the total number of clinics.
2. The "number of clinics" column itself combines the three types of clinic: Western medicine, dentistry and TCM. The 2025 total of 24,086 includes all three; it is not a figure for Western-medicine clinics alone.
3. Some dental specialty columns are blank before 2020 or 2021; this article marks them as "no data" and does not treat them as zero clinics.
4. Both the clinic total and the specialty counts are official year-end stock figures, not flows of clinics opening or closing during the year.
5. The original column name for prosthodontics (贋復補綴牙科) appears as garbled missing characters in some downloaded versions; this article checked the original table header to confirm the correct column name.

This article and its companion, [How many clinics each specialty has in Taiwan](/p/9779) (in Chinese), use different Ministry of Health and Welfare sources and time spans; they are consistent in definition but independent, and can be read side by side. The series entry page, [Overview of Taiwan's hospitals and clinics](/en/p/9777), compares overall hospital and clinic counts with numbers of physicians and nurses. Year-by-year clinic counts for each specialty, along with distributions by county/city and by township, are available as per-specialty pages on the [clinic.joelin.cc specialty overview](https://clinic.joelin.cc/specialties/). For example, the [urology](https://clinic.joelin.cc/specialties/miniaoke/) page lists annual counts from 2012 to 2025, counts by county/city, and the top 20 townships and districts by number of registered clinics.

## Frequently asked questions

### Which clinic specialty in Taiwan changed the most over the 13 years?

In percentage terms, psychiatry changed the most, rising from 204 clinics in 2012 to 439 in 2025, an increase of 115.2%. Urology came second, rising from 62 to 132 clinics, an increase of 112.9%. In absolute numbers, internal medicine added the most clinics, 250 over the 13 years.

### Why are pediatric clinics declining? Is pediatrics really less profitable?

The data in this article can only establish the fact that the number of clinics registered for pediatrics is falling, from 1,604 in 2012 to 1,403 in 2025. That direction is consistent with discussions of Taiwan's continuing decline in births. This article has no clinic revenue or profit data, so it cannot answer whether running a pediatric clinic is profitable.

### Does the decline in OB/GYN clinics mean there are fewer places to give birth in Taiwan?

That cannot be inferred directly. This article counts clinics registered for obstetrics and gynecology, which fell from 835 in 2012 to 708 in 2025. But registering OB/GYN does not mean a clinic delivers babies. Many OB/GYN clinics provide only gynecology outpatient care, prenatal checkups and similar services without handling deliveries; actual delivery capacity would need other data to answer.

### Do dentistry and traditional Chinese medicine have specialist clinics, like urology or psychiatry?

Dentistry has eleven statutory dental specialties, such as orthodontics and periodontics, but in 2025 only 193 clinics in total were registered under them, far fewer than the 7,148 registered for general dentistry. The dental specialist system was established only in 2018, and the matching statistical columns were filled in gradually over the following years. Traditional Chinese medicine has no statutory specialist system at all. The eight TCM division columns in the statistical table are legacy registration categories; their counts have kept falling over the 13 years, to a combined 181 clinics in 2025.

### How does this data differ from the companion article on how many clinics each specialty has (p9779)?

The two articles use different Ministry of Health and Welfare data sources. [The companion article](/p/9779) (in Chinese) uses a single end-of-2025 snapshot of the Department of Medical Affairs facility-level open data to answer how many clinics each specialty has now. This article uses the 14-year statistical table from the Department of Statistics to answer how each specialty changed over 13 years. The two are consistent in definition but calculated independently; they are not two presentations of the same raw data.

Keywords: Taiwan clinic trends by specialty, psychiatric clinic growth, urology clinic increase, pediatric clinic decline, OB/GYN clinic decline, dental specialist clinics, TCM division clinics, historical clinic statistics by specialty.

Sources: Chinese original first published 2026-09-15; original last updated 2026-10-28. Figures are year-end registrations in Taiwan for 2012–2025 (ROC years 101–114) from the Ministry of Health and Welfare Department of Statistics open dataset.

AI-assisted translation and editing: Caddy (AI)

[Original article](/p/9793)