{"title":"Inequalities in the distribution of the nursing workforce in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: a regional analysis.","authors":"Waleed Kattan, Mohammed Khaled Al-Hanawi","doi":"10.1186/s12960-025-01010-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The global nursing shortage is a growing concern, particularly in regions experiencing rapid population growth and healthcare transformation. This study examines trends and regional inequalities in Saudi Arabia's nursing workforce distribution from 2019 to 2023 within the context of Saudi Vision 2030 and the Health Sector Transformation Program.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data from the Ministry of Health's 2023 Statistical Yearbook were used for this study. Nurse-to-1 000 population ratios were calculated across 20 health regions. Inequality in the nursing distribution was assessed using Gini coefficients and Lorenz curves, disaggregated by sector (Ministry of Health vs. private health sector) and nationality (Saudi vs. non-Saudi).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The national nursing workforce increased by 9% from 2019 to 2023, reaching 213 110 nurses. However, nurse-to-population ratios varied significantly across regions, ranging from 3.13 to 9.89 per 1 000 people. The overall Gini coefficient was 0.48, indicating a relatively unequal distribution of nurses across regions. Inequalities were more pronounced in the private health sector (Gini coefficient = 0.69) and among non-Saudi nurses (Gini coefficient = 0.59). While Saudization efforts led to a modest increase-Saudi nationals comprised 44.22% of the nursing workforce in 2023-localization remained uneven across regions and healthcare sectors.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Despite workforce growth and increased localization, Saudi Arabia continues to face considerable regional inequalities in nursing distribution. These disparities require targeted workforce policy interventions, including expanding nursing education opportunities, optimizing working conditions, and implementing strategic workforce plans to distribute nursing resources more equitably. Additionally, offering incentives for deployment in underserved regions will be critical.</p>","PeriodicalId":39823,"journal":{"name":"Human Resources for Health","volume":"23 1","pages":"34"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12265384/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Human Resources for Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-025-01010-6","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
Background: The global nursing shortage is a growing concern, particularly in regions experiencing rapid population growth and healthcare transformation. This study examines trends and regional inequalities in Saudi Arabia's nursing workforce distribution from 2019 to 2023 within the context of Saudi Vision 2030 and the Health Sector Transformation Program.
Methods: Data from the Ministry of Health's 2023 Statistical Yearbook were used for this study. Nurse-to-1 000 population ratios were calculated across 20 health regions. Inequality in the nursing distribution was assessed using Gini coefficients and Lorenz curves, disaggregated by sector (Ministry of Health vs. private health sector) and nationality (Saudi vs. non-Saudi).
Results: The national nursing workforce increased by 9% from 2019 to 2023, reaching 213 110 nurses. However, nurse-to-population ratios varied significantly across regions, ranging from 3.13 to 9.89 per 1 000 people. The overall Gini coefficient was 0.48, indicating a relatively unequal distribution of nurses across regions. Inequalities were more pronounced in the private health sector (Gini coefficient = 0.69) and among non-Saudi nurses (Gini coefficient = 0.59). While Saudization efforts led to a modest increase-Saudi nationals comprised 44.22% of the nursing workforce in 2023-localization remained uneven across regions and healthcare sectors.
Conclusion: Despite workforce growth and increased localization, Saudi Arabia continues to face considerable regional inequalities in nursing distribution. These disparities require targeted workforce policy interventions, including expanding nursing education opportunities, optimizing working conditions, and implementing strategic workforce plans to distribute nursing resources more equitably. Additionally, offering incentives for deployment in underserved regions will be critical.
期刊介绍：
Human Resources for Health is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal covering all aspects of planning, producing and managing the health workforce - all those who provide health services worldwide. Human Resources for Health aims to disseminate research on health workforce policy, the health labour market, health workforce practice, development of knowledge tools and implementation mechanisms nationally and internationally; as well as specific features of the health workforce, such as the impact of management of health workers" performance and its link with health outcomes. The journal encourages debate on health sector reforms and their link with human resources issues, a hitherto-neglected area.
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