Nurses and midwives, total — all countries

Nurses and midwives, total — Upper-middle-income countries

Nurses and midwives, total in upper-middle-income countries in 2023 — 10,148,826 people. Since 2003, the indicator has risen by 222.1%.

2023 10.15M people +11.67% vs 2022
World rank
Period maximum 10.15M people2023
Period minimum 2.99M people2007

Trend over time

2003–2023 · people

Nurses and midwives, total — Upper-middle-income countries, 2003–202305M10M15M200320052007200920112013201520172019202120232003: 3,151,120 people2004: 3,176,567 people2007: 2,988,572 people2009: 3,309,047 people2012: 4,244,492 people2013: 6,438,298 people2014: 7,054,582 people2015: 7,643,320 people2016: 8,124,346 people2017: 8,623,265 people2018: 9,533,906 people2019: 8,741,450 people2020: 8,324,627 people2021: 9,858,088 people2022: 9,088,404 people2023: 10,148,826 people
Change over the period: +7M (+222.07%) Average annual rate: 6.02 %
Nurses and midwives, total — Upper-middle-income countries, by year Upper-middle-income countries All countries CSV XLSX
Year people Change Change, %
2023 10.15M +1.06M +11.67%
2022 9.09M −769,684 −7.81%
2021 9.86M +1.53M +18.42%
2020 8.32M −416,823 −4.77%
2019 8.74M −792,456 −8.31%
2018 9.53M +910,641 +10.56%
2017 8.62M +498,919 +6.14%
2016 8.12M +481,026 +6.29%
2015 7.64M +588,738 +8.35%
2014 7.05M +616,284 +9.57%
2013 6.44M +2.19M +51.69%
2012 4.24M
2009 3.31M
2007 2.99M
2004 3.18M +25,447 +0.81%
2003 3.15M

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.