A recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and theInternational Council of Nurses (ICN) shows that the global nursing workforce has increased from 27.9 million in 2018 to 29.8 million in 2023. Data from 194 WHO member states shows that this increase in numbers has reduced the shortage of the nursing workforce from 6.2 million in 2020 to 5.8 million in 2023. This
shortage is projected to decrease to 4.1 million in 2030. However, there are still significant gaps in the availability of nurses across regions and countries.
The report show that around 78% of the world's nurses areconcentrated in countries that represent only 49% of the global population. In addition, 1 in 7 nurses worldwide, and 23% in high-income countries, are foreign-born. This means that there is a reliance on international migration to meet the domestic nursing workforce. In contrast, the proportion of the dependency is much lower in upper-middle-income countries (8%), lower-middle-income countries (1%) and low-income countries (3%).
What are the implications? Inequality in the global supply of nurses leaves many people without essential health access, which could threaten progress towards universal health coverage, global health security, and health-related development goals.