Med school admissions is always competitive–though the acceptance rates have varied over time, as have the stats of accepted students.
In general when the economy is strong, there are fewer applicants to medical school than when the economy is experiencing distress.
See graphs here; https://www.aamc.org/system/files/reports/1/factsdatachart1.pdf
But the number of applicants does not necessarily correlate directly with acceptance rates because the number of med school seat has increased over the years. Between 1960 and 1980, the number of seats doubled. Between 2005 and 2020, the number of seats increased by >35%.
The overall acceptance rate in 1961 was >60%. By 1973, the acceptance rate hit its nadir of 35%. Since 1980, the acceptance rate has remained more or less steady somewhere between 42 to 48%.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK217679/table/ttt00015/?report=objectonly
While it’s just about impossible to compare MCAT scores over the past 3 decades (there have been 3 major revisions of the test with significant changes in format and content), the median GPAs of med school matriculants have steadily increased. From 3.4 in 1987 to 3.58 today.
https://www.aamc.org/system/files/2019-10/2019_FACTS_Table_A-16.pdf
https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/pdf/10.1377/hlthaff.7.2.179