The number of nursing and midwifery professionals coming to work in the UK has fallen by nearly a third, following years of growth.
Nevertheless, the Nursing and Midwifery Council said that the number of people on its register who can practise in the UK reached a record of 853,707 – around 2% of the UK’s total working age population.
While 28,789 left the register (up 6%), 52,833 joined (down 11.9%). The number of nurses grew by 3% to 788,074, midwife numbers rose by 5.6% to 46,606, and the number of nursing associates increased by 17.5% to 12,782.
Nursing and midwifery
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Black, Asian and ethnic minority professionals accounted for 32.5% of the register at the end of March, compared to 30.6% a year earlier.
However, there has been a significant slowdown in international recruitment to the register following years of growth. Except during the pandemic, the number of internationally educated professionals joining the NMC register had been rising steadily since 2018-2019. By 2023-2024, 49.4% of all new joiners were internationally educated.
The NMC’s annual data report show that in the year to the end of March 2025, the number of international joiners fell by nearly a third from 29,628 to 20,671.
This slowdown in international recruitment was spread across countries. The number of new joiners from the top three countries – India, the Philippines and Nigeria – fell by 36.7%, 47.6% and 25.5% respectively, over the past year.
The NMC said that while changes to visa rules may have played a part, it also saw a rise in international professionals looking to move to other countries, possibly because they can earn more. They also said there was now a stronger focus on recruiting people locally through the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.
The number of international professionals leaving the register increased by a third (33.3%), from 3,959 leavers in 2023-2024 to 5,276 last year.
The number of UK-educated professionals joining the register in 2024–2025 is slowing. A total of 32,163 joined, up 5.9%, but this rate of growth has halved from the previous year, when UK joiners grew by 11.9%.
According to accompanying research into why people leave the profession, retirement remains always the top reason why people leave, but the second-most common reason for leaving was people’s physical or mental health.
For the second year in a row, 13% gave this as their main reason – with 70% of those saying their role had a negative impact on their physical health, and 85% saying it had worsened their mental health.
Only one in five leavers (19.9%) said they would recommend a career in nursing or midwifery.
Paul Rees, interim chief executive and registrar, said: “We’ve seen a slowdown in international nurses and midwives joining our register. That’s a significant shift from recent years and there are likely a few reasons for it.
“Even with this change, our register is still growing – and it’s becoming more diverse. That’s a real strength. It also means we must make sure everyone can work in an environment that values diversity and tackles racism.
“The Nursing and Midwifery Council has a responsibility to be fair to everyone on our register, whatever their background. That’s why we’ll soon be setting bold new targets to eliminate bias from our regulatory processes.”
Caroline Waterfield, director of development and employment at NHS Employers, welcomed the increase to the NMC register.
She said: “This growth, from a combination of both UK training and international recruitment, is critical to ensuring employers have access to vital nursing and midwifery expertise to help meet the current demand being experienced in all parts of the system.
“Critically, the data draws out that Black, Asian and ethnic minority professionals now account for just under a third of everyone on the register. We know from other reports and survey feedback that colleagues can have a worse staff experience than others. Alongside the NMC’s commitment to addressing bias in their regulatory processes, which we see as essential, employers also have work to do to continue to improve the experience for all of our people.
“In what are very challenging financial times for the sector, we know that to meet the existing demand, support waiting list reductions and improve patient experience we need to retain all of our existing talent, as well as continue to train the future generation of professionals via degree apprenticeships and university training. Continued support for training and retaining a future workforce will be essential in the implementation of the forthcoming 10-year health plan.”
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