May 15, 2025

A new report issued May 12 by the World Health Organization finds that “1 in 7 nurses worldwide – and 23% in high-income countries – are foreign-born, highlighting reliance on international migration.”

The WHO reports that: “The global nursing workforce has grown from 27.9 million in 2018 to 29.8 million in 2023, but wide disparities in the availability of nurses remain across regions and countries, according to the State of the World’s Nursing 2025 report, published by the World Health Organization (WHO), International Council of Nurses (ICN) and partners.”

The full report, State of the world’s nursing 2025: investing in education, jobs, leadership and service delivery, can be downloaded in full for free from the WHO website.

World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems and policies in the US and sixteen other OECD member nations.

Page last updated May 16, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.