&gt; and also most other rich countries subsidize the training of doctors.<p>The US actually <i>does</i> subsidize the training of doctors, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars per year through Medicare alone.<p>That said, most people don&#x27;t realize how heavy of a debt load doctors carry. Doctors reported incomes are much larger than their actual take-home pay due to things like malpractice insurance, which means that in the end, it&#x27;s not unusual for a doctor these days to plan to make their last payment on these loans in their forties.<p>Put another way: most doctors are literally past what is thought of as childbearing age by the time their &quot;investment&quot; has broken even, and that&#x27;s not even counting things like a mortgage, etc. that many people would want to have when starting a family.