Nursing & Midwifery Workforces: Critical UHC contributions

Central to the achievement of the Agenda for Sustainable Development is an adequate, equitably distributed and fully supported health workforce. Nurses are the largest occupational group and represent an indispensable force with which to combat inequities in access to health services and progress towards health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while advancing gender equality through the strengthening and empowerment of a highly feminized profession.

The 2025 edition of the State of the world’s nursing report, launched on International Nurses Day, 12 May 2025, provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the nursing workforce. The report features new indicators on critical areas for nursing, such as education capacity, advanced practice nursing and remuneration. In addition to the 12 policy priorities from the Global strategic directions for nursing and midwifery 2021–2025, there are five additional policy priorities and a compilation of data from each WHO region. Country profiles reflect each country’s national data and are available for download from the WHO National Health Workforce Accounts data portal by selecting the country name within the filters.

• Press release: Nursing workforce grows, but inequities threaten global health goals

• The Strategic Importance of National Investment in Nursing Professionals in the Region of the Americas
• Technical brief on strengthening the nursing and midwifery workforce to improve health outcomes: Government Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers (GCNMOs) in the WHO European Region
• The nursing and midwifery workforce in the African Region: optimizing and accelerating investments for resilient health systems: a regional technical report 2022 
• Nurse workforce sustainability in small countries: monitoring mobility, managing retention. Policy brief
• Facilitating evidence-based practice in nursing and midwifery in the WHO European Region
• Strategic Directions for Nursing in the Region of the Americas (2019)

• EB156/34: Global strategic directions for nursing and midwifery 2021–2025 (2025)
• WHA74.15  -  Strengthening nursing and midwifery: investments in education, jobs, leadership and service delivery (2021)
• WHA72.19 - 2020: International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife) (2019)