Comparison of the number of neonatologists in different countries not valid

I read with dismay, Dr William A. Silverman's "informal survey"1 purporting to demonstrate a disproportionate excess of neonatologists in the United States compared with six other developed countries. The fact that these "rough estimates" of physicians providing neonatology services are totally incomparable makes all subsequent manpower discussions purely judgmental, not factual. In fact, if one is really interested in the number of pediatricians dedicated to neonatal care (neonatologist equivalents) as opposed to only "titled" neonatologists, then calculations using the data in the footnotes triples the manpower figures for both Britain and Japan, catapulting Japan above the United States with the highest density of neonatologist equivalents.