The number of GPs in England has increased by close to 20% since 2003 new figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) show.
However, since 2012 the number of family doctors has decreased by 0.1%, meaning 29 doctors left the workforce and were not replaced.
There are 20,440 females within the GP workforce, an increase of 2.9% since 2012.
This is the first year the number of female GPs has been greater than their male counterparts. Male GP headcount is 19,800, a decrease of 2.9% (599) since 2012.
There has been an increase of 50.9 per cent (6,890) female GPs since 2003, whereas male GP numbers have decreased by 1.1 per cent (218).
Health and Social Care Information Centre chair Kingsley Manning said: “The annual census gives us the opportunity to study the changes within the NHS workforce, one of the largest of its kind in the world.
“Today’s figures show an overall rise in staff numbers across the whole NHS, with increases for doctors, nurses and a slight decline in management figures.”
Overall, the figures show that the number of people working for the NHS in England has increased slightly.
Over 1.36 million people were working for the NHS in England at 30 September 2013, an increase of 0.4% on 2012 and an increase of 12.5% (151,580) since 2003, the report shows.
