Nurses and midwives, total — all countries

Nurses and midwives, total — South America

Nurses and midwives, total in South America in 2021 — 1,846,511 people. Since 2013, the indicator has fallen by 4.5%.

2021 1.85M people +24.85% vs 2019
World rank
Period maximum 2.76M people2018
Period minimum 1.48M people2019

Trend over time

2013–2021 · people

Nurses and midwives, total — South America, 2013–20211M1.5M2M2.5M3M2013201420152016201720182019202020212013: 1,933,867 people2014: 2,215,579 people2015: 2,328,362 people2016: 2,423,392 people2017: 2,608,168 people2018: 2,761,034 people2019: 1,478,928 people2021: 1,846,511 people
Change over the period: −87,356 (−4.52%) Average annual rate: -0.58 %
Nurses and midwives, total — South America, by year South America All countries CSV XLSX
Year people Change Change, %
2021 1.85M
2019 1.48M −1.28M −46.44%
2018 2.76M +152,866 +5.86%
2017 2.61M +184,776 +7.62%
2016 2.42M +95,030 +4.08%
2015 2.33M +112,783 +5.09%
2014 2.22M +281,712 +14.57%
2013 1.93M

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.