Nurses and midwives, total in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024 — 1,352,085 people. Since 2004, the indicator has risen by 364.3%.
2004–2024 · people
| Year | people | Change | Change, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1.35M | — | — |
| 2022 | 1.67M | — | — |
| 2018 | 965,204 | — | — |
| 2004 | 291,213 | — | — |
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.
How many nurses and midwives there are per 1,000 people.
Healthcare Physicians, totalHow many physicians work in a country — in absolute numbers, from 1971 onward.
Healthcare Physicians per 1,000 peopleThe number of physicians per 1,000 people.
Healthcare Hospital beds per 1,000 peopleThe number of hospital beds per 1,000 people — the capacity of inpatient care.