Kathmandu. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of the risk of a major shortage of the global medical workforce in the 2030s. The WHO estimates that a quarter of doctors will retire in the next decade.
This estimate is based on the latest data from 122 countries. In high-income countries, that number rises to about one in three. By 2030, 67 countries will not have enough health workers to meet the health needs of their populations.
The WHO has also released the 72-page first edition of the National Health Workforce Account: Health Workforce Levels and Trends 2026. It shows that the density of the global health workforce (medical doctors, nursing and midwifery staff, dentists and pharmacists) has increased by 52 percent over the past two decades. From 44.8 per 10,000 population in 2006 to 67.9 in 2025. There are now more than 70 million health and care workers worldwide.
These annual reports will provide information on the levels and trends of the health workforce and will also focus on a specific topic. The first report examines the impact of aging on the needs of the future workforce, both in the population and health workers. In some countries, the age of health workers is estimated to be exacerbating the health workforce shortage. By 2030, there will be a global shortage of 11.1 million health workers. However, the aging of the population is increasing the demand for services.
The new report also reveals that deep inequalities persist between countries and regions. For example, the WHO European region has a 13-fold higher density of medical doctors and six times the density of nurses and midwifery staff than the WHO African region. The report highlights that workforce shortages and unequal distribution are limiting access to essential health care for many.
“Despite improvements in workforce production and data reporting, there are unequal and serious shortages of health and care workers, and the density of health workers is strongly correlated with national income,” said Dr Khassoum Diallo, Acting Unit of Health Workforce Policy and Data at the WHO Academy. This needs urgent attention. This is putting double pressure on health systems, especially in high-income countries. We know that good data leads to better policies and these results reinforce the importance of forward-looking measures to strengthen health workforce planning, education, employment and retention. – Agency
