TOP 10 Countries by Nurses per 1,000 (2025)
Top 10 countries by nurses per 1,000 people (2025 outlook): where health staffing is strongest
The number of nurses per 1,000 people is one of the clearest indicators of day-to-day capacity in a health system. Nurses and midwives provide bedside care, coordinate discharge and rehabilitation, run vaccination and screening programmes and support chronic disease management in communities. When nurse density is high, systems have more room to absorb shocks and to offer safe, continuous care.
The standard global metric is “nurses and midwives (per 1,000 people)”, which includes professional and associate nurses and midwives, as well as auxiliary and enrolled personnel and related roles such as primary care and dental nurses. The data are compiled by the World Health Organization and OECD and published through the World Bank’s indicator SH.MED.NUMW.P3.
For this 2025 article, we use the latest ranking of nurses and midwives per 1,000 people by country, based on WHO/World Bank data and summarised in 2025 by World Population Review. The top 10 countries are:
- Finland – 22.3 nurses and midwives per 1,000 people
- Monaco – 20.8
- Belgium – 20.5
- Norway – 18.9
- Switzerland – 18.7
- Iceland – 16.3
- Ireland – 14.9
- Australia – 14.8
- Malta – 14.4
- United States – 12.5
Every country in this list has at least three times as many nurses per 1,000 inhabitants as the world average, underlining how concentrated nursing capacity is in a relatively small group of mostly high-income states.
What the “nurses per 1,000 people” indicator actually measures
The World Bank definition of nurses and midwives (per 1,000 people) covers professional nurses, professional midwives, auxiliary and enrolled nurses and midwives, and related personnel such as primary care and dental nurses. The numerator is the headcount of these workers; the denominator is the national population estimate for the same year. The result is an annual per-capita snapshot of the potential staffing pool available for health services.
This metric is powerful but not perfect. It tells us how many nurses a country has per 1,000 people, but it does not show how they are distributed between urban and rural areas, public and private sectors, hospitals and community settings, or different specialties. It also says nothing about working hours, skill mix, or how much administrative burden eats into available patient-facing time. Still, as a first pass, nurse density is a strong proxy for staffing capacity and system resilience.
Key idea: moving from 2–3 nurses per 1,000 people to 10–20 per 1,000 represents a step change in what a health system can deliver: shorter waiting times, safer staffing ratios, more preventive care and better ability to handle epidemics and demographic ageing.
Global patterns: a nurse-rich core and a nurse-poor periphery
Globally, recent WHO and World Bank estimates put the average number of nurses and midwives at roughly 3–5 per 1,000 people. High-income countries cluster around 8–12 per 1,000, while many low- and lower-middle-income countries remain well below 3 per 1,000, and some fragile states have fewer than 1 nurse per 1,000 people.
Against this backdrop, the 2025 Top-10 list sits at the very top of the global distribution:
- Finland leads the world, with 22.3 nurses and midwives per 1,000 people. This reflects decades of investment in nursing education, a broad primary care mandate and strong public financing.
- Monaco, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland all report more than 18 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants, powered by high health spending and well-resourced hospital and primary care networks.
- Iceland, Ireland, Australia, Malta and the United States complete the list, each at or above 12.5 nurses per 1,000 and all with large hospital sectors and significant chronic-disease burdens.
These countries collectively form a kind of “nurse-rich core” of the global health workforce – and they increasingly rely on recruitment from the “nurse-poor periphery” of lower-income countries, which raises serious equity and ethical concerns.
Finland and the Nordic model: staffing for universal coverage
Finland is the clear outlier at the top of the ranking. Its nurse density of 22.3 per 1,000 people is more than double the figure in many other high-income systems. Finland’s model builds on a strong welfare state, broad access to education and a primary-care-oriented system where nurses have an expansive scope of practice. They play central roles in managing diabetes, hypertension and mental health, running screening programmes, and delivering preventive and home-based services.
Norway and Switzerland are also nurse-rich systems, with around 19 nurses per 1,000 people. Both have expanded training capacity and worked to keep nursing attractive through competitive pay and regulated staffing standards. In the Nordic context, nursing is deeply embedded in community services and long-term care, which is essential in ageing societies.
Small, wealthy states: Monaco and Malta
Monaco and Malta show how very small, high-income states can rank near the top in per-capita terms. Monaco’s ratio of 20.8 nurses per 1,000 partly reflects its tiny population and its role as a care hub serving residents and cross-border patients from neighbouring regions. Malta, at 14.4 per 1,000, has steadily grown its nursing workforce to deliver universal coverage while also handling seasonal tourist flows that stress emergency and acute services.
Ireland, Australia, United States: high density with persistent gaps
Ireland, Australia and the United States share several features: high incomes, large hospital and specialist sectors, significant chronic-disease burdens and strong demand for nurses. Ireland’s nurse density of 14.9 per 1,000 is one of the highest in the European Union. Australia and the US also report high nurse-to-population ratios and large absolute workforces, supported by substantial health-spending levels and strong nursing education sectors.
Yet all three countries still report shortages, burnout and difficult working conditions. In the US, for example, national averages hide large interstate differences and persistent staffing gaps in rural areas and high-acuity hospital units. Australia faces chronic shortages in rural and remote communities and in Indigenous health services. Ireland, meanwhile, competes with other English-speaking destinations in a tight labour market for internationally educated nurses.
High nurse density ≠ no workforce problems
Being in the Top-10 for nurse density does not mean a country has solved its workforce challenges. Common issues across this group include:
- Uneven distribution: metropolitan hospital clusters often have better staffing than remote or economically weaker regions, even in high-density countries.
- Ageing workforce: in many high-income systems, a large share of nurses is nearing retirement, creating replacement pressures over the next decade.
- Burnout and attrition: high workloads, shift work and emotional stress contribute to turnover, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Ethical recruitment dilemmas: aggressive recruitment from lower-income countries risks deepening shortages where needs are greatest.
Even so, the Top-10 countries start from a much stronger position than systems struggling to reach minimum staffing thresholds. WHO has long suggested that at least 2.5 medical staff (physicians, nurses and midwives) per 1,000 people are needed just to provide basic primary-care coverage. The countries highlighted here are operating at many times that level.
The next block turns this narrative into a compact table, followed by a simple visual comparison in the third block that contrasts the Top-10 with global and high-income averages.
Top 10 countries by nurses per 1,000 people (approximate 2025 outlook)
The table below uses the 2025 “Nurses per Capita by Country” ranking (World Population Review), which compiles the latest available values for nurses and midwives (per 1,000 people) from WHO and World Bank sources. Data years range mainly from 2014 to 2021, but the ranking itself is current for 2025.
| Country / territory | Nurses & midwives per 1,000 people (latest year) | Health staffing & capacity profile |
|---|---|---|
|
Finland Rank #1 – 22.3 per 1,000 |
22.3 (2020 data) | Finland has the highest nurse density in the world. High investment in education, advanced practice roles and strong public financing support very favourable nurse-to-patient ratios. Nurses play a central role in primary care, chronic disease management and preventive programmes, although rural recruitment and retention remain ongoing challenges. |
|
Monaco 20.8 per 1,000 |
20.8 (2014 data) | A wealthy micro-state with a very small population and high health spending per capita. Monaco’s nurse density reflects both excellent local services and its role as a specialist care hub for surrounding regions. The small absolute workforce, however, can be sensitive to turnover and international labour-market shifts. |
|
Belgium 20.5 per 1,000 |
20.5 (2021 data) | Belgium combines dense hospital capacity with strong specialist and primary-care services. Nurse staffing is among the highest in Europe, supporting short waiting times and high service volumes. Policy debates focus on workload, skill mix and balancing staff between acute care, long-term care and home-care settings. |
|
Norway 18.9 per 1,000 |
18.9 (2021 data) | A tax-funded Nordic welfare state with generous health financing. Nurse density is high across hospitals, primary care and long-term care. Norway has expanded training capacity and uses targeted incentives to recruit to remote regions, though geographic imbalances still exist between northern rural areas and the urban south. |
|
Switzerland 18.7 per 1,000 |
18.7 (2020 data) | A high-spending health system with mandatory private insurance and extensive hospital infrastructure. Switzerland combines high nurse density with strong nurse education, but still faces shortages in some specialties and regions, leading to a sustained emphasis on retention and recruitment (including internationally educated nurses). |
|
Iceland 16.3 per 1,000 |
16.3 (2020 data) | Small, high-income island state with universal coverage and a compact workforce. High nurse density supports broad access to hospital and primary-care services, but the small labour market means that emigration and recruitment cycles can strongly affect staffing levels in key units. |
|
Ireland 14.9 per 1,000 |
14.9 (2021 data) | Ireland has one of the highest nurse-to-population ratios in the EU. Its system relies heavily on nurses in acute hospitals and community services, but continues to face vacancies, reliance on agency staff and competition for internationally educated nurses from other English-speaking destinations. |
|
Australia 14.8 per 1,000 |
14.8 (2021 data) | Federal system combining public financing (Medicare) and private insurance. Australia has high nurse density and strong training capacity, but rural, remote and Indigenous communities still experience shortages. Policy measures focus on retention, advanced practice roles and incentives for underserved areas. |
|
Malta 14.4 per 1,000 |
14.4 (2020 data) | Small EU island state with a tax-funded system and universal coverage. Nurse density supports good access to acute and primary care, but Malta must balance domestic nurse training with international recruitment while managing seasonal peaks in demand from tourism and an ageing resident population. |
|
United States 12.5 per 1,000 |
12.5 (latest data, ≈2021–2022) | One of the largest nursing workforces in absolute terms and a high nurse-to-population ratio overall. However, staffing shortages remain common in many states, especially in rural areas and high-acuity hospital departments. Ageing of the workforce, burnout, and uneven distribution across regions and specialties are major policy concerns. |
Together, these 10 countries represent the upper end of the global nurse-density spectrum. The next block provides a simple bar-chart-style visual that compares their values with indicative global and high-income averages.
Nurses per 1,000 people in 2025: Top-10 vs global and high-income averages
The bar chart below compares the nurse density of the Top-10 countries with two indicative benchmarks:
- a stylised high-income average of about 10 nurses per 1,000 people, and
- a stylised world average of about 3.7 nurses per 1,000 people.
Exact benchmark values vary slightly by source and year, but the relative gap between the Top-10 outliers and typical systems is robust.
Interpreting the nurse-density gap
The chart shows three important patterns for 2025:
- Extreme concentration at the top: the Top-10 countries operate at more than double the high-income average and many times the global mean, giving them a clear advantage in safe staffing and surge capacity.
- Persistent inequality: while these countries debate optimal staffing ratios in intensive care or long-term care, many lower-income systems still struggle to reach even minimal thresholds of 2–3 core health workers (doctors, nurses and midwives) per 1,000 people.
- Global interdependence: many of the nurse-dense countries rely heavily on internationally educated nurses, meaning their staffing levels are linked to migration policies, ethical recruitment codes and conditions in source countries.
For countries below the high-income average, the priority is to scale up training and retention while improving working conditions and career pathways. For the Top-10 group, the challenge is to maintain high staffing levels sustainably, avoid over-reliance on recruitment from nurse-short systems and redesign care models so that highly trained nurses can work at the top of their licence.
Data sources and further reading
- World Population Review – Nurses per Capita by Country (2025)
- World Bank – Nurses and midwives (per 1,000 people), indicator SH.MED.NUMW.P3
- World Bank DataBank – Indicator glossary for SH.MED.NUMW.P3
- WHO – Nursing and midwifery personnel (per 10,000 population)
- Our World in Data – Nurses and midwives per 1,000 people
