Description: Health worker density and distribution
Sub descriptionUnit201820192020202120222023
Density of medical doctorsper 10,00010.8810.6710.4813.2211.6512.84
Density of nursesper 10,00021.0420.6420.2825.0929.16-
Density of dentistsper 10,0001.481.451.421.71.761.88
Density of pharmacists/dispensersper 10,0002.962.92.852.8-7.82
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DATA IDENTIFICATION


Name
Health worker density and distribution
Indicator purpose

The purpose of this indicator is to measure number of healthcare workers. 

Abstract

This indicator provides number of health workers per 1,000 population. Health care workers include active physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice registered nurse, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialist, certified registered nurse anaesthetists, and advance practice nurse midwives.

Data source

Ministry of Health

DATA CHARACTERISTICS



Contact organization person

Ministry of Health

Date last updated
24-SEP-2019
Periodicity

Annual

Unit of measure

Rate per 1,000 population

Other characteristics
  • The figures for number of medical doctors (including generalist and specialist medical practitioners) depending on the nature of the original data source may include practising medical doctors only or all registered medical doctors.
  • The figures for number of nursing and midwifery include nursing personnel and midwifery personnel, whenever available. In many countries, nurses trained with midwifery skills are counted and reported as nurses. This makes the distinction between nursing personnel and midwifery personnel difficult to draw.
  • The figures for number of dentists include dentists in the given national and/or subnational area. Depending on the nature of the original data source may include practising (active) only or all registered in the health occupation. The ISCO -08 codes included here are 2261.
  • The figures for number of pharmacists include in the given national and/or subnational area. Depending on the nature of the original data source may include practising (active) only or all registered in the health occupation. The ISCO -08 codes that relate to this occupation is 2262.
DATA CONCEPTS and CLASSIFICATIONS



Classification used

Density of medical doctors: The density of medical doctors is defined as the number of medical doctors, including generalists and specialist medical practitioners per 10,000 population in the given national and/or subnational area. The International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) unit group codes included in this category are 221, 2211 and 2212 of ISCO-08.

Density of nursing and midwifery personnel: The density of nursing and midwifery personnel is defined as the number of nursing and midwifery personnel per 10,000 population in the given national and/or subnational area. The ISCO-08 codes included in this category are 2221, 2222, 3221 and 3222.

Density of dentists: The density of dentists is defined as the number of dentists per 10,000 population in the given national and/or subnational area. The ISCO-08 codes included in this category are 2261.

Density of pharmacists: The density of pharmacists is defined as the number of pharmacists per 10,000 population in the given national and/or subnational area. The ISCO-08 codes included in this category are 2262.

Disaggregation

by cadre, by National level data.

Key statistical concepts

SDG 3.C.1=(Number of health workers by cadre ) / (Total population)

Formula
-
OTHER ASPECTS



Recommended uses

The correlation between the availability of health workers and coverage of health interventions suggests that the public's health suffers when health workers are scarce. This indicator can be used to assist the Ministry of Health in making sure health worker density increases.

Limitations

Data on health workers tend to be more complete for the public health sector and may underestimate the active workforce in the private, military, nongovernmental organization and faith-based health sectors. In many cases, information maintained at the national regulatory bodies and professional councils are not updated.

Other comments

All the metadata shown in this document was gathered from United Nation Statistics Division. The metadata was extracted from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/.