Objective To investigate the scale and layout of enrollment for doctoral students in the first-level discipline of public health and preventive medicine in China, and to provide policy recommendations to promote the education of these doctoral students. Methods In September 2021, 35 sample colleges with the first-level doctoral programs in public health and preventive medicine (except military colleges and academy of military sciences) were selected, and the public data of the 2021 doctorate of the first-level discipline of public health and preventive medicine authorization units were collected and sorted out, and the enrollment of doctoral students in the first-level discipline of public health and preventive medicine in different regions, different discipline evaluation levels and different secondary disciplines were analyzed. Results A total of 799 doctors of the first-level discipline of public health and preventive medicine were recruited from 35 colleges. In terms of geography, the enrollment was mainly concentrated in East China, with 272 students (34.1%). In terms of discipline evaluation level, A-level colleges had the largest enrollment of 245 students (30.7%). Epidemiology and health statistics had the largest number of 353 students (44.2%) in the secondary discipline. Conclusions The enrollment scale of doctoral students in the first-level discipline of public health and preventive medicine is small, and distribution of the enrollment is unbalanced, which should be optimized by measures including increasing the number of degree authorization units, improving the layout, and expanding the enrollment scale.