Nurses by age and sex — Health and social employment by country
This dataset provides data on the number of nurses by age groups and sex. Age groups include less than 25, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, 75+, for total, female and male nurses. The breakdown by age and gender is provided for practising nurses. If not available, the data are reported for professionally active...
What the numbers show
Nurses by age and sex — Health and social employment is currently reported for 24 countries. The highest value is 1.56 million Persons in Japan; the lowest is 5,932 Persons in Costa Rica.
The median across all reporting countries is 98,710 Persons, and the mean is 253,308 Persons.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 262.
Over the past decade 20 countries rose and 1 fell. The largest increase was in Chile (up 154.0%), and the largest decrease in Latvia (down 8.0%).
Nurses by age and sex — Health and social employment: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan | 1.56 million Persons | 2024 | up 11.5% | rising |
| 1 | Türkiye | 264,857 Persons | 2024 | up 33.7% | rising |
| 2 | Germany | 1.04 million Persons | 2024 | up 20.4% | rising |
| 2 | Estonia | 9,374 Persons | 2024 | up 24.1% | rising |
| 3 | France | 607,644 Persons | 2023 | up 11.6% | rising |
| 3 | Latvia | 7,731 Persons | 2024 | down 8.0% | falling |
| 4 | Canada | 461,742 Persons | 2024 | up 20.3% | rising |
| 5 | Australia | 365,030 Persons | 2024 | up 37.8% | rising |
| 6 | Argentina | 288,875 Persons | 2023 | up 34.9% | rising |
| 7 | Spain | 280,200 Persons | 2024 | up 17.1% | rising |
| 8 | Romania | 159,745 Persons | 2024 | up 30.2% | rising |
| 9 | Belgium | 134,656 Persons | 2023 | up 18.0% | rising |
| 10 | Switzerland | 133,689 Persons | 2024 | up 22.5% | rising |
| 11 | Chile | 98,899 Persons | 2025 | up 154.0% | rising |
| 12 | Austria | 98,521 Persons | 2024 | — | flat |
| 13 | Norway | 84,897 Persons | 2024 | up 8.7% | rising |
| 14 | Colombia | 83,171 Persons | 2024 | up 51.4% | rising |
| 15 | Ireland | 77,090 Persons | 2025 | — | rising |
| 16 | Finland | 73,956 Persons | 2025 | up 14.7% | rising |
| 17 | New Zealand | 70,307 Persons | 2025 | — | rising |
| 18 | Denmark | 62,913 Persons | 2024 | up 12.2% | rising |
| 19 | Israel | 55,800 Persons | 2024 | up 42.1% | rising |
| 20 | Hungary | 53,838 Persons | 2024 | up 3.4% | flat |
| 21 | Costa Rica | 5,932 Persons | 2025 | up 55.2% | rising |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Slovak Republic 31,395 Persons
About this data
This dataset provides data on the number of nurses by age groups and sex. Age groups include less than 25, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, 75+, for total, female and male nurses. The breakdown by age and gender is provided for practising nurses. If not available, the data are reported for professionally active nurses or nurses licensed to practise. Please refer to the Sources and Methods for detailed country-specific information.