Statistics
2019 Health Manpower Survey
Summary of the Characteristics of Registered Nurses Enumerated
I. Registered Nurses Covered
1.1 The registered nurses covered in the 2019 Health Manpower Survey on Registered Nurses (HMS-RN) were nursing personnel registered with the Nursing Council of Hong Kong under the Nurses Registration Ordinance (Chapter 164) as at the survey reference date - 31.8.2019, with exclusion of those subsequently found to have passed away on or before the survey reference date.
1.2 The number of registered nurses covered was 44 223.
1.3 Of the 44 223 registered nurses covered, 8 688 responded to the HMS-RN, giving an overall response rate of 19.6%. Among the respondents, 7 424 (85.5%) were economically active1,2 (active) in the local nursing / midwifery profession as at 31.8.2019 and 1 264 (14.5%) were economically inactive1,3 (inactive) in the local nursing / midwifery profession (Chart A).
1.4 Of the 7 424 active registered nurses enumerated, 7 309 (98.5%) were practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession, 64 (0.9%) were seeking jobs, 14 (0.2%) were having temporary sickness and 37 (0.5%) were waiting to take up a new job, expecting to return to their original jobs, believing no work was available or starting business in the local nursing / midwifery profession during the 30 days before the survey. The survey results presented in paragraph 1.6 below were based on 7 309 responding registered nurses who were practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession as at 31.8.2019. As certain questionnaires contained missing information, percentages presented below may not add up to 100%.
1.5 Of the 1 264 inactive registered nurses enumerated, 145 (11.5%) reported practising overseas, ten (0.8%) reported practising in the Mainland and 1 109 (87.7%) registered nurses reported not seeking job in the local nursing / midwifery profession during the 30 days before the survey (Chart A). Among the 1 109 inactive registered nurses who reported not practising in Hong Kong and not seeking jobs in the local nursing / midwifery profession, the main reasons reported not seeking job included: 560 (50.5%) were retired, 230 (20.7%) were engaged in household duties, 157 (14.2%) wanted to take rest / had no motive to work / had no financial need, 135 (12.2%) were working in other professions, 17 (1.5%) reported emigrated and ten (0.9%) reported undertaking study, etc.
1. 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.
2. “Economically active” registered nurses comprised all “employed” and “unemployed” registered nurses. “Employed” registered nurses referred to those registered nurses practising in the nursing / midwifery profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, while “unemployed” registered nurses referred to those registered nurses who (a) were not practising in the local nursing / midwifery 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/midwifery profession during the 30 days before the survey.
3. “Economically inactive” registered nurses comprised the registered nurses who were not practising in the nursing / midwifery 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”.
Chart A : Activity Status of Registered Nurses Covered
| Note: | * | Figure refers to the number of registered nurses subsequently found to have passed away on or before 31 August 2019. |
| † | Figure refers to the number of responding registered nurses who (a) were not practising in the nursing / midwifery profession in Hong Kong 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 / midwifery profession during the 30 days before the survey. | |
| ‡ | Figure refers to the number of responding registered nurses who (a) were not practising in the nursing / midwifery profession in Hong Kong during the survey period; (b) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey; and (c) believed that work was not available, were waiting to take up a new job in the local nursing / midwifery profession, starting business at subsequent date or expecting to return to their original jobs in the local nursing / midwifery profession during the 30 days before the survey. | |
| § | Figure refers to the number of responding registered nurses who reported emigrated, undertaking study, etc. | |
| Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding. |
1.6 There were 12 active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated who did not indicate their gender. Among the remaining 7 297 active registered nurses enumerated who were practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession, 971 (13.3%) were male and 6 326 (86.7%) were female, giving an overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) of 15.3. Apart from 164 registered nurses who did not indicate the age, the median age of the remaining 7 145 active registered nurses enumerated was 43.0 years.
1.7 Among the 7 309 active registered nurses enumerated who were practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession, 6 804 (93.1%) were holding a practising certificate in the general stream and 474 (6.5%) were holding a practising certificate in the psychiatric and other streams4. There were 31 (0.4%) active registered nurses holding more than one practising certificate.
1.8 The responding active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession were requested to indicate the characteristics of their main jobs5. Distribution by sector for the main job showed that 4 747 (64.9%) of them were working in the Hospital Authority, followed by 1 315 (18.0%) in the private sector, 473 (6.5%) in the subvented sector, 468 (6.4%) in the Government and 236 (3.2%) in the academic sector.
1.9 The median ages of the active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated were highest for those working in the Government and subvented sectors (both 51.0 years), followed by the academic sectors (46.0 years), the private sectors and the Hospital Authority (both 42.0 years).
1.10 Of the 7 309 active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated, 19.2% spent most of their working time on medicine, followed by 14.5% on surgery, 7.5% on ambulatory care / outpatient and 7.2% on administration / management.
1.11 The median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week of the 7 309 active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated was 44.0 hours. Among them, 532 (7.3%) registered nurses were required to undertake on-call duty (excluding normal duty), with a median of 12.0 hours of on-call duty (excluding normal duty) per week.
1.12 In terms of the earliest basic qualification6 in nursing / midwifery profession, among the 7 309 active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated, Student / Pupil Nurse Training accounted for 43.1%, whilst Bachelor’s Degree, Higher Diploma and EN to RN Conversion Course accounted for 32.0%, 12.4% and 9.0% respectively.
1.13 Of the 7 309 active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated, 5 588 (76.5%) had received/ were receiving additional training, which is relevant to the nursing / midwifery profession after obtaining their earliest basic qualification. Among these 5 588 active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession, 2 323 (41.6%) held Master’s Degree, 1 855 (33.2%) held Bachelor’s Degree, 520 (9.3%) held certificate as the highest qualification and 122 (2.2%) had not yet completed the additional training.
4 Figure includes 466 registered nurses (psychiatric), five registered nurses (sick children) and two registered nurses (mentally subnormal).
5 Main jobs refer to the jobs in which the registered nurses had spent most of their working time.
6 Earliest Basic qualification refers to the minimum entry qualification to the nursing / midwifery profession obtained by the registered nurses. If the midwives had the earliest basic qualifications in both nursing and midwifery professions, they were requested to indicate the earlier minimum entry qualification among these earliest basic qualifications that they had obtained.
1.14 Of the 5 588 active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession who had received / were receiving additional training after obtaining their earliest basic qualification, 3 261 (58.4%) had received / were receiving training in one field only. Among them, 17.6% were trained in midwifery, 12.6% in general nursing, and 5.1% in public health nursing.
1.15 Of the 5 588 active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession who had received / were receiving additional training after obtaining their earliest basic qualification, 2 113 (37.8%) had indicated more than one field of additional training, with midwifery being the most commonly reported (35.0%, 739 of the 2 113 respondents), followed by nursing administration (21.4%, 453 of the 2 113), general nursing (18.9%, 400 of the 2 113), intensive care nursing (17.2%, 364 of the 2 113) and emergency / first aid nursing (15.5%, 328 of the 2 113).
1.16 Regarding Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) / Post-registration Education in Midwifery (PEM) activities, 6 339 (86.7%) of the active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession reported that they had participated in CNE / PEM activities in 2019, 862 (11.8%) reported no participation in any CNE / PEM activities, whilst 108 (1.5%) did not report whether they had participated in CNE / PEM or not. Among the 6 339 active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated who had participated in CNE / PEM activities, the distribution of CNE / PEM points / hours attained in the past 12 months was: 1 to 5 points / hours (11.8%), 6 to 10 points / hours (13.8%), 11 to 15 points / hours (18.4%), 16 to 20 points / hours (14.9%) and more than 20 points / hours (41.1%).
II. Trend Analysis
2.1 Comparison of findings of the 2019 HMS-RN with those surveys conducted on or before 2004 should be made with caution as the survey methods and reference date had been changed.
2.2 Between 2000 and 2019, the number of registered nurses increased from 21 635 to 44 223. The proportion of registered nurses in the general stream remained stable (92.3% - 94.2%) between 1987 and 2019 (Chart B & Table A).
Chart B : Number of Registered Nurses Covered by Year (2000, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019)
| Note: | * | As the 2010 Health Manpower Survey only aimed at covering all registered nurses who had to renew their practising certificates in 2010, registered nurses who did not need to renew practising certificates in 2010 were excluded from the survey. |
| Figure of 2000 refers to the number of registered nurses registered with Nursing Council of Hong Kong and who were holding valid practising certificates as at the 1st of July 2000, whereas the figures of 2004 to 2007, 2013 and 2016 refer to that as at the 31st of August of the respective years and the figure of 2010 refers to that as at the 31st of August 2010 and had to renew their practising certificates in 2010. Figure of 2019 refer to the number of registered nurses registered with the Nursing Council of Hong Kong as at 31st of August 2019, with exclusion of those who were subsequently found to have passed away on or before the survey reference date. |
2.3 The sex ratio (males per 100 females) of active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated ranged from 11 to 15 between 1987 and 2019 (Table A).
2.4 The mean age of the active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated increased from 41.2 years in 2013 to 42.5 years in 2019.
2.5 From 2013 to 2019, the largest proportion (over 60%) of active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated were working in the Hospital Authority. The proportion of active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated working in the Hospital Authority decreased from 68.3% in 2013 to 64.9% in 2019. On the other hand, the proportion of active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated working in the private sector gradually increased from 16.8% in 2013 to 18.0% in 2019. The proportion of active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated working in the academic and subvented sectors increased from 7.3% in 2013 to 9.7% in 2019 (Table A).
Table A : Selected Characteristics of Active Registered Nurses Enumerated (1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019)
| Note: | * | Figure of 2000 refers to the number of registered nurses registered with Nursing Council of Hong Kong and who were holding valid practising certificates issued by the Nursing Council of Hong Kong as at the 1st of July 2000, whereas the figures of 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2016 refer to that as at the 31st of August of the respective years and the figure of 2010 refers to that as at the 31st of August 2010 and had to renew their practising certificates in 2010. Figures of 2019 refers to the number of registered nurses registered with the Nursing Council of Hong Kong as at 31st of August 2019 with exclusion of those who were subsequently found to have passed away on or before the survey reference date. |
| † | As the 2010 Health Manpower Survey only aimed at covering all registered nurses who had to renew their practising certificates in 2010, registered nurses who did not need to renew practising certificates in 2010 were excluded from the survey. | |
| # | Figures of 2019 refers to the stream of practising certificate of the active registered nurses, with exclusion of those (31 (0.4%)) holding more than one practising certificate. | |
| ‡ | Figure may include a few registered nurses (sick children) and registered nurses (mentally subnormal). | |
| § | In 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016, the sector refers to the sector for the main job. | |
| ║ | Included academic and subvented sectors. Military was included in the 1987 HMS. | |
| There may be slight discrepancy between the sum of individual items and the total due to rounding. | ||
| N.A. | Not applicable | |
| ‘ - ’ | Not available |