Nurses and midwives, total — all countries

Nurses and midwives, total — OPEC

Nurses and midwives, total in OPEC in 2022 — 892,954 people. Since 2014, the indicator has risen by 97.7%.

2022 892,954 people +38.68% vs 2018
World rank
Period maximum 892,954 people2022
Period minimum 451,573 people2014

Trend over time

2014–2022 · people

Nurses and midwives, total — OPEC, 2014–2022400,000600,000800,0001M2014201520162017201820192020202120222014: 451,573 people2016: 740,781 people2017: 743,621 people2018: 643,904 people2022: 892,954 people
Change over the period: +441,381 (+97.74%) Average annual rate: 8.9 %
Nurses and midwives, total — OPEC, by year OPEC All countries CSV XLSX
Year people Change Change, %
2022 892,954
2018 643,904 −99,717 −13.41%
2017 743,621 +2,840 +0.38%
2016 740,781
2014 451,573

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.