Access to nursing care and optimizing the nursing workforce are crucial for achieving the best person- and family-centred outcomes.
Highlights from the latest pan-Canadian statistics on regulated nurses from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) show that in 2017:
- 425,757 regulated nurses had an active licence to practise
- 48% of health-care professionals were regulated nurses
- 398,845 of regulated nurses with a licence to practise said they were employed in their profession
- 281,373 RNs, 4,967 NPs, 106,854 LPNs, and 5,651 RPNs were in the nursing workforce
- 91% of regulated nurses held a licence to practise in the jurisdiction where they completed their nursing program
- 17% of the population lived in rural or remote areas while only 11% of the nursing workforce did
- Annual growth in the supply of regulated nurses has slowed to less than 1%, the lowest in the past 10 years.
Overview of CIHI’s nursing workforce statistics:
Canada
Alberta
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland and Labrador
Northwest Territories/Nunavut
Nova Scotia
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
Saskatchewan
Yukon
CIHI’s annual reports offer a historical look at RN and NP trends and statistics in Canada from as far back as 1980.