Statistics
2024 Health Manpower Survey on Enrolled Nurse
Key Findings
The enrolled nurses covered in the 2024 Health Manpower Survey on Enrolled Nurses (HMS-EN) were nursing personnel enrolled in any part of the roll under the Nurses Registration Ordinance (Chapter 164) as at the survey reference date of 30 September 2024, with exclusion of those subsequently found to have passed away on or before the survey reference date.
The number of enrolled nurses covered was 16 606.
Of the 16 606 enrolled nurses covered, 6 606 responded to the HMS-EN, giving an overall response rate of 39.8%. Among the respondents, 5 422 (82.1%) were economically active*† (active) in the local nursing profession and 1 184 (17.9%) were economically inactive*‡ (inactive) in the local nursing profession (See Chart).
Of the 5 422 active enrolled nurses enumerated, 5 325 (98.2%) were practising in the local nursing profession, 85 (1.6%) were seeking jobs in the local nursing profession. Ten (0.2%) reported that they were available for work but had not sought work during the 30 days before the survey reference date, mainly because they were waiting to take up a new job in the local nursing profession, believed that no work was available in the local nursing profession, or expected to return to their original job in the local nursing profession. The remaining two (<0.1%) had not been available for work because of temporary sickness.
The survey results presented below were based on 5 325 responding enrolled nurses who were practising in the local nursing profession as at 30 September 2024. The percentages presented below may not add up to 100% due to missing responses or rounding.
(i) 40 active enrolled nurses did not indicate the gender. Among the remaining 5 285 active enrolled nurses enumerated who were practising in the local nursing profession, 701 (13.3%) were male and 4 584 (86.7%) were female, giving an overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) of 15. Apart from 28 active enrolled nurses who did not indicate their age, the median age of the remaining 5 297 active enrolled nurses enumerated was 36.0 years.
(ii) Distribution by sector of the main job§ of those enumerated showed that 2 265 (42.5%) active enrolled nurses enumerated were working in the private sector, followed by 1 871 (35.1%) in the Hospital Authority, 895 (16.8%) in the subvented sector, 237 (4.5%) in the Government, 26 (0.5%) in the academic sector and the reminding 31 (0.6%) did not indicate the sector of the main job.
(iii) Among the 5 325 active local enrolled nurses enumerated, 4 793 (90.0%) reported only one main area of work, while 383 (7.2%) reported more than one main area of work, and 149 (2.8%) did not indicate their area of work. Among the 4 793 active local enrolled nurses who reported one main area of work, 4 642 (96.8%) reported working in clinical fields and 151 (3.2%) in non-clinical fields. Among the 4 642 respondents who spent most of their working time in clinical fields, the most commonly reported areas were residential care (1 151, 24.8%), geriatrics (567, 12.2%), medicine (440, 9.5%) and mental health/ psychiatry/addiction treatment (386, 8.3%). Among the 151 respondents who spent most of their working time in non-clinical fields, 68 (45.0%) reported working in administration/ management, 56 (37.1%) in public health, 25 (16.6%) in teaching/education/research and two (1.3%) in occupational health as their main areas of work.
(iv) Among the 5 249 active local enrolled nurses enumerated who reported their weekly working hours, the median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week of the 5 249 active enrolled nurses enumerated was 44.0 hours. Among the 5 325 active local enrolled nurses enumerated, 719 (13.5%) enrolled nurses were required to undertake on-call duty (excluding normal duty), with a median of 9.0 hours of on-call duty (excluding normal duty) per week.
| * | In the survey, the criteria used in defining economically active / inactive followed those recommended by the International Labour Organization, which are also being used by the Census and Statistics Department in Hong Kong. |
| † | “Economically active” enrolled nurse comprised all “employed” and “unemployed” enrolled nurses. “Employed” enrolled nurses referred to those enrolled nurses practising in the nursing profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, while “unemployed” enrolled nurses referred to those enrolled nurses who (a) were not practising in the local nursing profession during the survey period; (b) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey; AND (c) had sought work in the local nursing profession during the 30 days before the survey. |
| ‡ | “Economically inactive” enrolled nurse comprised the enrolled nurses who were not practising in the nursing profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, excluding those who had been on leave during the survey period and who were “economically active” but “unemployed”. |
| § | Main jobs referred to the jobs in which the enrolled nurses had spent most of their working time. |
Among the 1 184 inactive enrolled nurses(See Chart):
(i) 1 089 inactive enrolled nurses reported not seeking jobs in the local nursing profession, the main reasons for not seeking jobs included: 554 (50.9%) were retired, 213 (19.6%) were engaged in household duties, 72 (6.6%) were due to health issues, 71 (6.5%) wanted to take a rest/had no motive to work/had no financial need, 66 (6.1%) were working in other professions, 49 (4.5%) were undertaking training in the nursing profession and 14 (1.3%) had emigrated, etc.
(ii) 52 (4.4%) reported practising overseas, three (0.3%) reported practising in Macao or other areas of the Greater Bay Area, two (0.2%) reported practising in other areas of the Mainland and 38 (3.2%) were not available for work during the seven days before the survey reference date.
| Notes: | * | Figure refers to the number of nursing personnel enrolled in any part of the Roll of Enrolled Nurses under the Nurses Registration Ordinance (Chapter 164) as at the survey reference date of 30 September 2024. |
| † | Figure refers to the number of enrolled nurses subsequently found to have passed away on or before the survey reference date of 30 September 2024. | |
| ‡ | Figure refers to the number of responding enrolled nurses who (a) were not practising in the nursing profession in Hong Kong as at the survey reference date; (b) had been available for work in the local nursing profession during the seven days before the survey reference date; AND (c) had sought work in the local nursing profession during the 30 days before the survey reference date. | |
| § | Figure refers to the number of responding enrolled nurses who were not available for work in the local nursing profession during the seven days before the survey reference date. | |
| ‖ | Figure refers to the number of responding enrolled nurses who reported not seeking work in the local nursing profession during the 30 days before the survey reference date because of expecting to return to their original job in the local nursing profession, waiting to take up a new job in the local nursing profession, believing that no work was available in the local nursing profession or unspecified reasons. | |
| Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding. | ||