May 12 – International Nurses Day

International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. 

In 2023, the theme for International Nurses Day is Our Nurses. Our Future. 

Our Nurses. Our Future. will be a global campaign which sets out what we want for nursing in the future in order to address the global health challenges and improve global health for all. We need to learn from the lessons of the pandemic and translate these into actions of the future. 

• Approximately 27 million men and women make up the global nursing and midwifery workforce. This accounts for nearly 50% of the global health workforce. 
• There is a global shortage of health workers, in particular nurses and midwives, who represent more than 50% of the current shortage in health workers. 
• The largest needs-based shortages of nurses and midwives are in South East Asia and Africa. 
• Nurses play a critical role in health promotion, disease prevention and delivering primary and community care. They provide care in emergency settings and will be key to the achievement of universal health coverage. 
• Achieving health for all will depend on there being sufficient numbers of well-trained and educated, regulated and well supported nurses and midwives, who receive pay and recognition commensurate with the services and quality of care that they provide. 
• Globally, 70% of the health and social workforce are women compared to 41% in all employment sectors. Nursing and midwifery occupations represent a significant share of the female workforce. 

(IND, 2023)

More information: 
Nursing Now 
International Council of Nurses 
World Health Organisation