Midwives — Health and social employment by country
This dataset provides data on the number of midwives by status (ie. practising midwives, professionally active midwives, and midwives licenced to practice). Practising midwives provide services directly to patients. Professionally active midwives include practising and other (non-practising) midwives for whom their...
What the numbers show
Midwives — Health and social employment is currently reported for 23 countries. The highest value is 171.62 Per 1 000 live births in Ireland; the lowest is 5.38 Per 1 000 live births in Canada.
The median across all reporting countries is 64.01 Per 1 000 live births, and the mean is 80.37 Per 1 000 live births.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 32.
Over the past decade 22 countries rose and 1 fell. The largest increase was in Chile (up 217.2%), and the largest decrease in Ireland (down 0.3%).
Midwives — Health and social employment: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ireland | 171.62 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | down 0.3% | flat |
| 2 | Belgium | 152.63 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 63.6% | rising |
| 3 | Finland | 149.47 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 40.7% | volatile |
| 4 | Sweden | 146.69 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 44.9% | rising |
| 5 | Iceland | 138.02 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 21.7% | rising |
| 6 | Chile | 137.57 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 217.2% | rising |
| 7 | Australia | 114.33 Per 1 000 live births | 2023 | up 3.7% | flat |
| 8 | Malta | 106.77 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 32.4% | rising |
| 9 | Norway | 94.22 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 30.8% | rising |
| 10 | Hungary | 84.2 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 43.3% | rising |
| 11 | Denmark | 82.59 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 43.0% | volatile |
| 12 | Czechia | 64.01 Per 1 000 live births | 2016 | up 22.2% | rising |
| 13 | New Zealand | 57.47 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 13.4% | rising |
| 14 | Luxembourg | 56.75 Per 1 000 live births | 2012 | up 12.1% | rising |
| 15 | Italy | 56.55 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 47.8% | rising |
| 16 | United Kingdom | 55.8 Per 1 000 live births | 2020 | up 34.9% | rising |
| 17 | Austria | 40.05 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 48.0% | rising |
| 18 | Cyprus | 37.78 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 42.2% | rising |
| 19 | Spain | 33.06 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 65.2% | rising |
| 20 | Serbia | 30.06 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 34.1% | rising |
| 21 | Israel | 19.53 Per 1 000 live births | 2024 | up 39.3% | rising |
| 22 | Argentina | 14.01 Per 1 000 live births | 2023 | up 123.8% | rising |
| 23 | Canada | 5.38 Per 1 000 live births | 2023 | up 74.7% | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
About this data
This dataset provides data on the number of midwives by status (ie. practising midwives, professionally active midwives, and midwives licenced to practice). Practising midwives provide services directly to patients. Professionally active midwives include practising and other (non-practising) midwives for whom their education is a prerequisite for the execution of the job. Midwives licensed to practice have acquired the requisite education and qualifications to be registered and/or legally licensed to practice midwifery. They include both practising and other (non-practising) midwives. Please refer to the Sources and Methods for detailed country-specific information.