Number of Health Care Workers Has Increased 198.5 Percent Since 1990

THURSDAY, Aug. 20, 2026 (HealthDay News) — The global health workforce has expanded since 1990, mainly due to an increase in female health workers, according to a study published online Aug. 18 in The Lancet Public Health.

Megan Knight, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, and colleagues describe the composition and density of health workers by sex among 20 cadres for 204 countries and territories during 1990 to 2023. Overall, 1,816 country-years of data from population-based surveys, 82 from censuses, 3,888 from administrative sources, and 96 from scientific literature were used.

The researchers found there were 122.1 million health workers across 20 cadres in 2023, representing an increase of 81.2 million (198.5 percent) relative to 1990; the number included 15.1 million doctors, 33.2 million nurses, 2.4 million midwives, and 7.6 million community health workers (CHWs). Of all health workers in 2023, 68.9 percent were women; female health workers accounted for 71.4 percent of the net growth in human resources for health (HRH) workforce. Only 43.9 percent of doctors were women, while most nurses, midwives, and CHWs were women (80.7, 96.0, and 89.5 percent, respectively). There were substantial differences seen in HRH density in 2023, with the lowest HRH densities across cadres in sub-Saharan Africa, except for CHWs; the highest HRH densities were seen in high-income countries.

“Women have transformed the global health workforce over the past three decades, but they continue to be concentrated in professions that generally offer lower pay and fewer opportunities for leadership,” Knight said in a statement.

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

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