The global nursing workforce has grown from 27.9m in 2018 to 29.8m in 2023, but wide disparities in the availability of nurses remain across regions and countries, according to the ‘State of the World’s Nursing 2025’ report.
Published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), International Council of Nurses and partners, the report provides a comprehensive and updated analysis of the nursing workforce at global, regional and country levels.
Consolidating information from 194 Member States of the WHO, evidence indicates global progress in reducing the nursing workforce shortage – from 6.2m in 2020 to 5.8m in 2023, with a projection to decline to 4.1m by 2030.
Low and middle-income countries are facing challenges in graduating, employing, and retaining nurses in the health system and will need to raise domestic investments to create and sustain jobs. In parallel, high-income countries need to be prepared to manage high levels of retiring nurses and review their reliance on foreign-trained nurses, strengthening bilateral agreements with the countries they recruit from.
“This report contains encouraging news and we congratulate the countries that are making progress,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “However, we cannot ignore the inequalities that mark the global nursing landscape,” he added, and urged all those involved to use this report as a signpost, “showing us where we’ve come from, where we are now, and where we need to go – as rapidly as possible.”
The State of the World’s Nursing 2025 (SoWN) report, based on data reported by 194 countries through the National Health Workforce Accounts, shows a 33% increase in the number of countries reporting data since the last edition in 2020. It includes detailed country profiles now available for public access online.
The report reveals complex disparities between and among countries, regions and socio-economic contexts. The data and evidence are intended to support country-led dialogue to contextualize the findings into policies and actions.
