Nurses play a central role in the provision of healthcare and are the most numerous category of health workers in most OECD countries. While the majority of nurses are employed in hospitals, many also work in long-term care facilities or in the community. In 2023, there were 9.2 practicing nurses per 1 000 population on average across OECD countries, up from 8.1 in 2013. Nurse numbers in 2023 ranged from 3 per 1 000 population or fewer in Colombia, Türkiye and Mexico to over 15 per 1 000 population in Switzerland, Norway and Iceland (Figure 8.13). OECD accession countries have fewer nurses per population than the OECD average, although the number has increased significantly over the past decade in Romania, Croatia and Brazil, but not in Bulgaria.
The number of nurses per population has grown in most OECD countries over the past decade, although it has remained stable in some and has decreased slightly in a few countries (e.g. Iceland and Latvia). Increases have been particularly marked in Switzerland, Australia, Slovenia and Korea, driven largely by an expansion of new graduates from nursing education programmes (see section on “Nursing graduates”). In Switzerland, the growth can also be explained by a strong rise in the number of “associate professional nurses” with lower qualifications than “professional nurses”. Indeed, over the past decade, the number of associate professional nurses in Switzerland increased by over 50% while professional nurse numbers increased by 20%.
In some countries, the recruitment of foreign-trained nurses has also played an important role. For example, foreign-trained nurses accounted for 92% of the overall growth in nurse numbers in Ireland between 2021 and 2024. They also accounted for over 80% of the growth in the number of nurses in the United Kingdom and New Zealand in recent years (see section on “International migration of nurses”).
In several countries, many nurses reported a degradation of their working conditions during and after the COVID‑19 pandemic, with a large proportion reporting job dissatisfaction and considering leaving their jobs (OECD, 2023[1]). Recent hospital staff surveys indicate that, on average across OECD countries with available data, a majority of nurses (56%) working in hospitals perceived staff levels and work pace to be unsafe (see section on “Safe acute care – workplace culture and patient experiences” in Chapter 6). Concerns about a “great resignation” of nurses and other health workers emerged in some countries in 2021, including the United States and the United Kingdom. However, recent data from the United Kingdom show some stabilisation there, with 10.1% of nurses and other workers in hospital and community care leaving the National Health Service between September 2023 and September 2024, down from 12.5% between September 2021 and September 2022 when leaver rates were at a peak. This improvement was supported by a specific programme to increase retention rates (NHS England, 2025[2]).
Nurses outnumber doctors in most OECD countries. On average, there are 2.5 nurses for every doctor. The ratio of nurses per doctor ranges from 1.2 or less in Colombia, Mexico, Türkiye and Latvia as well as accession country Bulgaria, to more than 4.0 in Japan, Finland, the United States and Switzerland (Figure 8.14). Several countries have moved forward in implementing more advanced roles for nurses to improve access to care and address shortages of doctors, including through roles such as “nurse practitioners” and “family and community nurses”. More advanced practice nurses generally have more education and training (usually a master’s degree) and are allowed to play greater roles in diagnosing illnesses and prescribing medications and other treatments, with or without the supervision of doctors. In the United States, the number of nurse practitioners increased more rapidly than the overall number of registered nurses between 2013 and 2023, and is projected to continue to grow strongly between 2023 and 2033. Evaluations of nurse practitioners in primary care in several countries show that these advanced practice nurses can improve access to services and reduce waiting times, while delivering the same quality of care as doctors for a range of patients, including those with minor illnesses and those needing routine follow-ups. These evaluations also find a high patient satisfaction rate (Brownwood and Lafortune, 2024[3]).
