State of the World’s Nursing 2025 Report:
The World Health Organization (WHO) released the State of the World’s Nursing (SoWN) 2025 report on International Nurses Day (IND).
Key Findings of the SoWN 2025 Report:
- The global nursing workforce grew from 27.9 million in 2018 to 29.8 million in 2023, but 78% of nurses are concentrated in countries representing just 49% of the global population.
- The global nurse-to-population ratio is 37.1 per 10,000, with Europe having five times more nurses than Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, and high-income countries having 10 times more than low-income countries.
- By 2030, the global nurse workforce is projected to reach 36 million, reducing the shortage from 5.8 million in 2023 to 4.1 million, with 70% of shortages concentrated in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.
- International Migration: 1 in 7 nurses globally are foreign-born. In HICs, this rises to 23%, compared to 8% in upper middle-income, 1% in lower middle-income, and 3% in LICs.
- Mental Health and Regulation of Nurses: 92% of countries have regulatory bodies for nurses. 94% have minimum wage laws, but only 42% of countries provide mental health support.
- India has only 1.9 nurses per 1,000 people, far below the WHO’s recommended ratio of 3 nurses per 1,000.
- India has over 3.3 million nurses registered with the Indian Nursing Council (INC), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, established under the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947.
- India committed to opening 157 new nursing colleges by mid-2025 that will add 15,700 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.Sc. Nursing) seats across the country.
