Registration data reports

What we publish

Our register tells us how many nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom (UK) and nursing associates in England are currently able to practise.

We publish data from our register every six months.

Our annual reports cover the 12 month period from April to March every year, but we also publish a mid-year report covering the sixth month period from April to September.

As well as the size of the register, our reports show the number of joiners and leavers, a breakdown of the register by age and field of practice, and much more.

Latest report

Mid-year report - September 2021

Full UK report

• Mid-year data report
• Easy read data report
• Permanent register data tables
• Covid-19 temporary register data tables

Breakdown by country of registered address

• England data report and data tables
• Northern Ireland data report and data tables
• Scotland data report and data tables
• Wales data report (Cymraeg) and data tables
• Non-UK address data tables

How the register has changed

Between 1 April and 30 September 2021, the number of:

• professionals on our permanent register grew by 13,011 (1.8 percent) to 744,929
• nurses on our permanent register grew from by 11,331 (1.7 percent) to 692,858 
• midwives on our permanent register grew by 594 (1.5 percent) to 39,664 
• dual registrants - people registered as both a nurse and midwife - fell by 70 (-1 percent) to 6,898 
• nursing associates on our permanent register grew by 1,156 (26.6 percent) to 5,509 

Also during this period, the number of professionals on our permanent register:

• whose initial registration was in the UK grew by 3,962 to 613,289 (0.7 percent)
• from the EEA fell by 911 to 29,420 (-3 percent)
• from outside the EEA grew by 9,960 to 102,220 (10.8 percent)

How to interpret our data

• Not everyone on our permanent register will currently be working as a nurse, midwife or nursing associate, or in the field they’re registered in.
• People who joined our register from 2020 - 2021 joined through different processes, depending on whether they were from the UK, European Economic Area (EEA) or outside the EEA. Now that the UK has left the EU, everyone joining our register from outside the UK follows the same international process.
• Where we say ‘country of initial registration’ we mean that the data refers to where people first held professional registration as a nurse, midwife or nursing associate. Where we say ‘country of training’ we mean that the data refers to where people trained rather than where they first held professional registration.
• The number of joiners, leavers and total people registered won’t add up exactly. That’s because the joiners’ data only includes people joining the register for the first time. It doesn’t include people who re-joined after a break from practising.
• The number of joiners and leavers are cumulative totals from the past six months (1 April–30 September). We’re working to improve our systems so we can provide a more complete picture of joiners and leavers in the future.
• Our permanent register changes every day and can vary considerably from the start of the month to the end of the month. Therefore, our data only offers a snapshot in time. Our latest report gives a snapshot of our register on 30 September 2021.
• We continually review the quality and content of our data and information. When improved data or additional information become available, we retrospectively update our previously published information. This means that when comparing data in our latest reports against some of our previous publications, you may see small differences in some data.
• In March 2020 we established a Covid-19 temporary register to support the UK’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Data from the Covid-19 temporary register is included in its own section at the end of our latest report.

Previous reports