Nurses and midwives, total — all countries

Nurses and midwives, total — G20

Nurses and midwives, total in the G20 in 2023 — 20,586,014 people. Since 1998, the indicator has risen by 173%.

2023 20.59M people −6.23% vs 2022
World rank
Period maximum 21.95M people2022
Period minimum 7.54M people1998

Trend over time

1998–2023 · people

Nurses and midwives, total — G20, 1998–2023010M20M30M1998200120042007201020132016201920221998: 7,539,922 people2000: 10,309,959 people2001: 9,200,112 people2002: 10,417,535 people2003: 9,564,552 people2004: 10,723,403 people2005: 10,515,726 people2006: 11,736,155 people2007: 11,049,879 people2008: 12,752,393 people2009: 11,857,439 people2010: 13,698,519 people2011: 12,930,514 people2012: 15,044,862 people2013: 13,330,569 people2014: 18,274,133 people2015: 17,786,029 people2016: 19,926,329 people2017: 19,096,714 people2018: 21,032,617 people2019: 17,130,065 people2020: 21,386,652 people2021: 21,695,530 people2022: 21,953,974 people2023: 20,586,014 people
Change over the period: +13.05M (+173.03%) Average annual rate: 4.1 %
Nurses and midwives, total — G20, by year G20 All countries CSV XLSX
Year people Change Change, %
2023 20.59M −1.37M −6.23%
2022 21.95M +258,444 +1.19%
2021 21.7M +308,878 +1.44%
2020 21.39M +4.26M +24.85%
2019 17.13M −3.9M −18.55%
2018 21.03M +1.94M +10.14%
2017 19.1M −829,615 −4.16%
2016 19.93M +2.14M +12.03%
2015 17.79M −488,104 −2.67%
2014 18.27M +4.94M +37.08%
2013 13.33M −1.71M −11.39%
2012 15.04M +2.11M +16.35%
2011 12.93M −768,005 −5.61%
2010 13.7M +1.84M +15.53%
2009 11.86M −894,954 −7.02%
2008 12.75M +1.7M +15.41%
2007 11.05M −686,276 −5.85%
2006 11.74M +1.22M +11.61%
2005 10.52M −207,677 −1.94%
2004 10.72M +1.16M +12.12%
2003 9.56M −852,983 −8.19%
2002 10.42M +1.22M +13.23%
2001 9.2M −1.11M −10.76%
2000 10.31M
1998 7.54M

About the indicator

The number of nursing and midwifery personnel, from WHO. This category is almost always the largest in a health system — worldwide there are on average about three times as many nurses as physicians, and in countries with developed primary care the gap is wider still.

Important: The ratio of nurses to physicians speaks of the structure of a system: a low value usually means that physicians are doing the work of nursing care, and that is a sign of a staffing shortage rather than of an abundance of doctors.

Source: Global Health Observatory (WHO), license CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.