When it comes to the highest paid professions in the world, it should come as no surprise that highly skilled professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and scientists are at the top of the list. The high pay for these positions reflects years of training and hard work on the part of these individuals, who may continue their education for more than ten years after graduating from high school to obtain the necessary qualifications.
The median income is used as a metric in most lists of the highest-paid professions around the world. The number in the exact middle of a range is called the median. For example, half of all dentists in the world earn less than the stated median income, while the other half earn more. Due to outliers who may make millions of dollars a year, medians are thought to be a more accurate reflection of data than means or averages in this case: if a list was compiled using averages, professionals like stockbrokers and chief executive officers would likely rank higher on the list, thanks to rare individuals who make much, much more than the median income for these positions.
Medical professions occupy the top nine spots on the list of highest-paid professions worldwide, beginning with anesthesiologists, who earned a median of $145,600 US Dollars (USD) per year in 2006. General internists, obstetricians/gynecologists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, orthodontists, prosthodontists, psychiatrists, surgeons, and physicians are further down the list. Chief executives take the tenth spot, with a median annual salary of $142,000 USD.
Family and general practitioners ($140,400 USD), airline flight crew such as pilots, copilots, and flight engineers ($138,000 USD), pediatricians and dentists ($125,000-136,000 USD yearly), and air traffic controllers ($107,000 USD) are among the next ten highest-paid medical professionals. Astronomers and chief engineers come in second and third, respectively, with median salaries of around $100,000 USD, and are followed podiatrists, lawyers, and judges. Natural scientists such as physicists and petroleum engineers, as well as computer scientists, round out the top 25.
Because different data collection methods are used, other lists of the highest paid professions around the world may differ slightly. However, as can be seen, medical professionals will dominate most lists, particularly those who choose challenging specialties like facial reconstructive surgery and anesthesiology. Individuals interested in these careers should expect to spend many years in difficult schooling before earning the median salaries for these occupations.