Countries by nurses and midwives per 10,000 people, 2018

Switzerland had the highest nurses and midwives per 10,000 people of 174 countries in 2018, at 179.15 per 10,000 people. Niger had the lowest, at 2.26 per 10,000 people. The median was 34.89 per 10,000 people. Source: World Health Organization.

Highest179.15Switzerland

Lowest2.26Niger

Median34.89174 countries

Top 40 countries, 2018

per 10,000 people. Source: World Health Organization, Density of nursing and midwifery personnel (per 10 000 population) (HWF_0006). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Countries	2018 per 10,000 people	Change on 2017
1	Switzerland	179.15	+2.1%
2	Norway	157.99	0%
3	Iceland	154.69	+1.2%
4	Ireland	128.68	-10.4%
5	Australia	127	+1.8%
6	Finland	126.25	+2%
7	Luxembourg	121.4	+0.5%
8	Japan	119.75	n/a
9	Belgium	117.91	-1%
10	Germany	117.43	+3.8%
11	Sweden	116.56	-0.2%
12	United States	115.89	+0.4%
13	Netherlands	112.79	+2%
14	Niue	111.11	n/a
15	Uzbekistan	109.61	-0.2%
16	Belarus	109.48	+0.4%
17	Canada	108.5	+8.8%
18	New Zealand	107.62	+0.8%
19	Denmark	104.62	+0.8%
20	Brazil	102.84	+4%
21	Slovenia	102.76	+2.3%
22	France	92.78	+0.4%
23	Czechia	89.77	+0.6%
24	Russia	87.1	-3.4%
25	United Kingdom	84.97	+2.7%
26	Malta	82.77	-2.7%
27	Lithuania	80.92	+0.8%
28	Cuba	76.36	-2%
29	Qatar	75.77	+12.2%
30	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	73.69	+12.4%
31	Seychelles	73.65	n/a
32	Romania	73.4	+3.3%
33	Nauru	73.04	n/a
34	Palau	73.03	+32.6%
35	South Korea	72.36	+4.4%
36	Croatia	71.73	+1.8%
37	Portugal	71.33	+2.9%
38	Austria	71.29	+0.3%
39	Cook Islands	71.08	+12.9%
40	Kuwait	70.95	-1.1%
41	Uruguay	67.73	n/a
42	Dominica	67.6	+6.2%
43	Estonia	66.36	+1.5%
44	Kazakhstan	66.18	-3.2%
45	Serbia	64.93	+1.6%
46	Brunei	64.82	+8.4%
47	Moldova	64.72	-2.6%
48	Singapore	64.51	+1.2%
49	Bosnia and Herzegovina	63.02	+3.2%
50	Argentina	61.27	+3.3%
51	Maldives	61.19	+69%
52	Saudi Arabia	60.78	+0.8%
53	Grenada	60.5	+105.9%
54	Italy	60.35	-0.9%
55	Slovakia	60.26	+0.9%
56	Spain	60.1	+2%
57	United Arab Emirates	59.01	+1.1%
58	Azerbaijan	57.96	+1.5%
59	Poland	56.44	-0.2%
60	Hungary	56.18	+0.9%
61	Israel	53.99	+1.5%
62	Montenegro	53.31	+3.3%
63	North Macedonia	52.75	+3.8%
64	Tajikistan	50.75	+2.2%
65	Georgia	49.89	-2.8%
66	South Africa	48.74	-2.1%
67	Bulgaria	48.04	-0.5%
68	Antigua and Barbuda	47.86	+1%
69	Philippines	47.34	+1.3%
70	Armenia	46.07	-5.9%
71	Latvia	45.59	-4.5%
72	Tuvalu	45.37	n/a
73	Andorra	45.08	+0.2%
74	Kyrgyzstan	45.05	-2.8%
75	Bahamas	44.84	n/a
76	Ghana	44.23	+94.8%
77	Oman	44.08	+0.3%
78	Marshall Islands	43.05	n/a
79	Mongolia	42.17	+1.5%
80	Eswatini	40.26	+5.2%
81	Malaysia	39.46	-2.4%
82	Cyprus	39.41	+0.6%
83	Trinidad and Tobago	39.14	-28%
84	Tonga	39.02	n/a
85	Turkmenistan	37.8	-2%
86	Greece	36.3	+1.7%
87	Kiribati	36.28	n/a
88	Chile	33.51	-0.2%
89	Botswana	33.25	n/a
90	Mauritius	32.74	+2.1%
91	Fiji	32.51	n/a
92	Lesotho	31.44	n/a
93	Barbados	31.24	n/a
94	Nepal	31.1	+10.7%
95	Indonesia	30.89	+139.1%
96	Panama	30.81	-0.4%
97	Peru	29.86	+34.4%
98	Türkiye	29.24	+10.5%
99	Mexico	28.9	+0.2%
100	China	28.88	+7.2%
101	Costa Rica	28.53	-8.7%
102	Gabon	27.51	-2.4%
103	Jordan	26.87	-16.4%
104	Suriname	26.49	+43%
105	Ecuador	26.04	+5.9%
106	Thailand	24.21	+3.2%
107	Tunisia	23.62	-4.3%
108	Belize	23.59	-2.1%
109	Samoa	23.51	n/a
110	Bahrain	21.82	-0.5%
111	Micronesia	20.93	n/a
112	Sri Lanka	20.8	+8.9%
113	Namibia	20.61	+6.5%
114	Venezuela	20.03	+3.6%
115	Solomon Islands	19.93	n/a
116	Iran	19.73	-20.9%
117	Iraq	19.52	+12.8%
118	São Tomé and Príncipe	19.32	n/a
119	Lebanon	19.18	+5.5%
120	El Salvador	18.94	-1.1%
121	Zimbabwe	18.54	-25.7%
122	Bhutan	18.39	+13.8%
123	Paraguay	17.97	+124.6%
124	Egypt	17.94	+0.1%
125	Syria	17.89	-2.1%
126	India	17	-22.1%
127	Timor-Leste	16.58	-4.2%
128	Nicaragua	16.56	+5.5%
129	Eritrea	15.57	+8.4%
130	Algeria	15.38	-30.3%
131	Comoros	15.07	n/a
132	Cape Verde	15	+2%
133	Vanuatu	14.62	n/a
134	Colombia	13.92	+2.4%
135	Guatemala	13.14	+7%
136	Dominican Republic	12.9	+14.9%
137	Zambia	12.73	+41.4%
138	Kenya	11.93	+10.4%
139	Rwanda	11.86	n/a
140	Laos	11.77	-1.8%
141	Cambodia	11.03	-0.7%
142	Mauritania	10.92	+0.6%
143	Sudan	10.83	n/a
144	Democratic Republic of the Congo	10.36	+23.5%
145	Myanmar	10.27	n/a
146	Guyana	10.23	+28.8%
147	Republic of the Congo	9.27	n/a
148	Pakistan	8.95	+60.7%
149	Burundi	7.72	-3.7%
150	Sierra Leone	7.62	-5.9%
151	Honduras	7.15	-0.4%
152	Ethiopia	6.92	-13.9%
153	Yemen	6.57	+1.7%
154	Liberia	6.38	n/a
155	Gambia	6.24	-5.6%
156	Guinea	5.66	n/a
157	Tanzania	5.56	-3.1%
158	Côte d’Ivoire	5.52	+8.7%
159	Benin	5.22	n/a
160	Papua New Guinea	4.97	n/a
161	Mozambique	4.88	-0.2%
162	Bangladesh	4.66	+53.3%
163	Afghanistan	4.51	+152%
164	Malawi	4.3	n/a
165	Mali	4.11	n/a
166	Haiti	4.04	n/a
167	Togo	3.92	-2.2%
168	Guinea-Bissau	3.87	n/a
169	Cameroon	3.69	n/a
170	South Sudan	3.68	n/a
171	Chad	2.97	+33.2%
172	Madagascar	2.85	n/a
173	Central African Republic	2.45	n/a
174	Niger	2.26	n/a

About this ranking

Nursing and midwifery personnel per 10,000 population: nursing and midwifery professionals and associate professionals (ISCO-08 codes 2221, 2222, 3221 and 3222), as reported to WHO's National Health Workforce Accounts, divided by the national population. Depending on the country's source, the count covers practising personnel only or everyone registered.

Includes associate professionals, so countries that train many nursing assistants show higher values. WHO revises these series, past years included, when new national reports or estimates come in, so values can change between retrievals.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. 20 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2018 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

World Health Organization, data.who.int. Density of nursing and midwifery personnel (per 10 000 population) (HWF_0006) [Indicator]. https://data.who.int/indicators/i/B54EB15/5C8435F (Accessed on 2026-10-12). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. No changes made to source values. WHO does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data.

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Questions

Which country has the highest nurses and midwives per 10,000 people?

Switzerland, with 179.15 per 10,000 people in 2018, according to World Health Organization.

Which country has the lowest nurses and midwives per 10,000 people?

Niger, with 2.26 per 10,000 people in 2018.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: World Health Organization, Density of nursing and midwifery personnel (per 10 000 population) (HWF_0006). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 20 countries have no value for 2018 and are not ranked.

Nurses and midwives per 10,000 people: other rankings

EU countries