How many nurses are there? And other facts

How many nurses are there? And other facts.

How many nurses are there?

In the US, there are 2.9 million (2004 data) registered nurses, with 83% being employed in nursing. In Canada, there are 252,000 (2005 data) Registered Nurses and 65,000 licensed practice nurses.

Nearly 13% of US nurses (375,000) and 2.5% (6,300) of Canadian RNs and have earned masters or doctoral degrees. In the U.S. 40,000 hold doctoral degrees. There are 240,000 U.S. advanced practice nurses--140,000 nurse practitioners and 70,000 clinical nurse specialists (CNS). But only 1 in 6 CNSs are practicing as such due to the denursification of health care over the past decade and a half. The US has 33,000 nurse anesthetists and 14,000 nurse midwives. These four specialty groups are generally masters prepared or higher. Nurses employed in nursing make up 0.76% and 0.74% of the population in the US and Canada respectively.

In 2007 Cuba, there are reportedly 89,000 nurses -- 25,000 with BSNs and 300 with masters degrees.

The actual average annual earnings of US RNs employed full-time in 2004 was $57,784.

Do nurses outnumber physicians?

Sometimes people ask if there are more physicians than nurses. The American Medical Association reports that there are 690,000 physicians in the US. This is a ratio of about 4 nurses to 1 physician.

What percentage of nurses are men?

In both the US and Canada, 5-6% of nurses are men. Of nurses employed in nursing, 6% and 5.6% are male in the US and Canada respectively.

How old is the average nurse?

The average age of a nurse in the US was 46.8 in 2004. In Canada the average nurse's age was 44.7 in 2005. Canadian data (pdf).

Are nurses more likely to go to graduate nursing or medical school?

Nurses are about 100 times more likely to attend graduate nursing school than medical school. see the data...

What do the initials and credentials mean that nurses so often use?

See a list on Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society of Nursing and another on Strong Health.

What is the projected shortfall of US nurses?

See US Department of Labor statistics. If current trends continue, the United States will be short 275,000 nurses by the year 2010, and the nation will need to educate about 1.1 million new nurses by 2012--almost half the size of today's nursing workforce. (See US Department of Labor "Occupational employment projections to 2012" (pdf).) The Department of Labor has predicted that the number of nurses needed in the workforce will grow by 623,000 to 2.9 million nurses by 2012--a 27% increase--and that there will be a need for 236,000 new nurses per year to keep up with increasing care demands and nurse retirement. http://data.bls.gov/servlet/oep.noeted.servlet.ActionServlet?Action=empoccp

What is the nursing shortage and why does it exist?

answer...

Find more facts and data about nurses

US Nurses: 2004 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses

Canadian Nurses: Highlights from the Regulated Nursing Workforce in Canada, 2005

Please contact us to add data about nurses from other countries.

Last updated October 21, 2006