State of the world's nursing 2020: investing in education, jobs and leadership

Overview

The State of the world’s nursing 2020 report provides the latest, most up-to-date evidence on and policy options for the global nursing workforce, as of its 2020 publication date. It also presents a compelling case for considerable – yet feasible – investment in nursing education, jobs, and leadership.

The primary chapters of the report outline the role and contributions of nurses with respect to the WHO “triple billion” targets; the health labour market and workforce policy levers to address the challenges to nurses working to their full potential; the findings from analysis of National Health Workforce Account (NHWA) data from 191 Member States and progress in relation to the projected shortfall of nurses by 2030; and forward-looking policy options for an agenda to strengthen the nursing workforce to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, improve health for all, and strengthen the primary health care workforce on our journey towards universal health coverage.

The report concludes with a call to Member States and other stakeholders to commit to this agenda.  The investments called for will drive progress toward Universal Health Coverage and across the Sustainable Development Goals including health but also education, gender, decent work and economic growth.

To view the full report in the five official WHO languages, please see the language tabs on the top of the page. Versions in Korean and Portuguese are available as follows:

Country profiles

The NHWA online portal contains individual country profiles presenting key statistics on nursing workforce, including health and on education, gender, decent work and economic growth.