A questionnaire was mailed to 564 rural Alberta physicians to determine the demographic profile of practising rural physicians, to identify factors that attracted and retained physicians in rural practice, and to identify the skills that newly trained general practitioners require for rural practice. Rural-based physicians were relatively young (50% below the age of 38 years) and predominantly male (86%). Approximately 73% were general practitioners without certification by the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and 19% were family physicians with certification. Compared with the Canadian-trained physicians (56%), foreign-trained rural physicians (44%) tended to be older, to have been longer than 10 years in rural practice, and to have had more than four years of postgraduate training. The major reasons for contemplating leaving rural practice were retirement, career advancement or limited challenge, and heavy work-load.