Health workforce
Health systems can only function with health workers; improving health service coverage and realizing the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is dependent on their availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality.
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Health workforce strategy & global governance processes

An eventful May, capped by the World Health Assembly, has demonstrated global demand for strategic health and care workforce data, normative guidance and country support. Against health systems under intense pressure and financing tightened, including by ODA cuts (insights from our panel of economists), Member States reaffirmed their support for WHO and for multilateralism, adopted the historic pandemic agreement (Article 7: Health and care workforce), and passed the World Health Assembly Resolution WHA78.16 on Accelerating action on the global health and care workforce by 2030. Additionally, Member States

The Accelerating action resolution was led by the government of the Philippines, along with the governments of Germany, Morocco, Nigeria and Thailand.

Within the official consideration of WHA78.16, Member States expressed approval for the substantive increase in data available through the National Health Workforce Accounts, including within the State of the World’s Nursing Report 2025; concerns, evidence and policy prescriptions on the international migration of health personnel; appreciation for normative tools like the health labour market analysis and for the Working for Health Multi-partner Trust Fund; and support for increased uptake of the Global health and care worker compact to protect and safeguard the workforce.

The cross-cutting nature of health and care workforce strategic policy and investment was a thread running through official discussions including WHO global plan of action to strengthen the role of the health system within a national multisectoral response to address interpersonal violence, Global action plan on climate change and health, Antimicrobial resistance, Health in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Comprehensive implementation plan on maternal, infant and young child nutrition.

Health Workforce was a predominant theme within side events, with at least 37 events delving into topics ranging from public health workforce coordination and investment, health financing, community health workers, migration, regulation, early career health professionals, addressing mental health, occupational health and safety, gender, digital pathways and nursing and midwifery. Overarching themes from these discussions reflected the need for collaboration and partnerships that recognize relative strengths; new approaches to financing, led by countries and supported by partners; and the need to protect and invest in the health and care workforce, including by addressing the projected 11 million health workforce shortage by 2030.

Key figures

The estimated stock of health workers now exceeds 70 million. Shortage estimates decreased steadily since the Global Strategy adoption in 2026, trends that may be linked to investment decisions, the adoption of evidence-based policies and improved data availability.

The pace of progress has slowed, however, and masks diverging trends across and within regions, prompting an upward adjustment to the projected workforce shortage by 2030 to 11 million (compared to the 2022 estimate of a projected 10 million shortage by 2030).

Women comprise 67% of the global health workforce.

A brief history

WHO published the World Health Report 2006: working together for health bringing global attention on human resources for health, particularly to the critical shortages of skilled health professionals (midwives, nurses and physicians) in 57 countries and the centrality of health workers for accelerating progress towards the health-related Millennium Development Goals. The global shortage of health professionals was termed a “crisis”, and a decade of action on human resources for health was proposed to overcome the challenges.

This seminal report was followed by a number of World Health Assembly resolutions on human resources for health leading to the development of the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Health workforce 2030 (2016) in response to resolution WHA67.24 (2014) “Follow-up of the Recife Political Declaration on Human Resources for Health: renewed commitments towards universal health coverage”. The Global Strategy estimated a projected shortage of 18 million health workers (doctors, nurses and midwives) to respond to universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, primarily in low- and middle-income countries.

In 2017, the Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth published its report Working for health and growth: investing in the health workforce. Resolution WHA70.6 adopted the ILO, OECD, WHO Working for Health programme and the WHO action plan for health employment and inclusive economic growth (2017–2021) as a mechanism for coordinating the intersectoral implementation of the Commission’s recommendations and supporting the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 and advancing universal health coverage.