Nurses per Capita by Country 2024

Nursing is a healthcare profession that focuses on the care of individuals, families and communities, generally for the purpose of maintaining or recovering optimal health. Most countries differentiate nurses from other healthcare providers like physicians in approach, scope of practice and training. Many specializations of nursing are available, depending on the country. In addition, nurses in different countries have widely varying degrees of authority for prescribing medication.

Nurses usually comprise the largest number of practitioners in most healthcare environments. However, nursing shortages are a major healthcare concern in many parts of the world, especially in developing countries.

Gender Composition

Nursing continues to be a female-dominated profession, even in countries with equal opportunity legislation. The World Health Organization (WHO) published a report entitled State of the World's Nursing in 2020, which showed 90 percent of the world's nursing workforce is female. For example, the male-to-female ratio of nurses in North America is about 1:19, with similar ratios found in most other countries. However, this ratio was even higher in the past, as the number of male nurses in the US doubled between 1980 and 2000.

The most notable exceptions to this general trend include French-colonized countries in Africa, collectively known as Francophone Africa, due to France's tradition of male nurses. These countries include the following:

• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Cameroon
• Chad
• Congo
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• Djibouti
• Guinea
• Gabon
• Mali
• Mauritania
• Niger
• Rwanda
• Senegal
• Togo

Male nurses outnumber female nurses in all of the above countries.

Outside of Franophone Africa, the highest percentage of male nurses is in Saudi Arabia, where one nurse in three is male. European countries with a comparatively large ratio of male nurses include Czech Republic, Portugal, Spain and Italy, over 20 percent of nurses are male. However, only 11 percent of the nurses in the UK are male.

Shortages

Nursing shortages are an increasing health risk in many countries. A 2022 global survey by McKinsey & Company shows that Africa and South East Asia have the biggest shortages. This survey also found that the top five factors for retaining nurses included the following:

• A safe working environment
• Work-life balance
• Caring and trusting team-mates
• Doing meaningful work
• Flexible work schedule