Ranks of Nurses on the Rise

The number of nurses in China has been growing at an average eight percent over the past decade, exceeding five million last year. The share of male nurses is also increasing, and the overall education and professional skills of nurses have improved.

According to the plan of the National Health Commission, China will increase the number of its nurses to 5.5 million by 2025, which means there will be 3.8 nurses per 1,000 citizens, and the doctor-nurse ration will reach 1:1.2 – which was 1:1.17 in 2021, compared with 1:1.09 in 2012. It will also improve nursing services in various categories, including care for the elderly, traditional Chinese medicine, and community-based and inhome care.

Extra attention will be paid to nurses working at primary-level medical institutions. The size of this group of medical professionals has doubled from 528,000 to 1.15 million during the past decade.