Statistics
2019 Health Manpower Survey on Registered Nurses
Key Findings
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.
2. The number of registered nurses covered was 44 223.
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 active*† (active) and 1 264 (14.5%) were economically inactive*‡ (inactive) in the local nursing / midwifery profession.
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.
5. The survey results presented below were based on the 7 309 responding registered nurses who were practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession as at 31.8.2019. The percentages presented below may not add up to 100% due to missing responses or rounding.
(i) There were 12 active registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession enumerated who did not indicate the gender. Among the remaining 7 297 active registered nurses enumerated, 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.
(ii) Distribution by sector of 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.
(iii) 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.
(iv) The median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week of the 7 309 active registered nurses 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 number of 12.0 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” registered nurse comprised all “employed” and “unemployed” registered nurses. “Employed” registered nurse referred to those registered nurses practising in the local nursing / midwifery profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, while “unemployed” registered nurse 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 nursing / midwifery profession during the 30 days before the survey. |
| ‡ | “Economically inactive” registered nurse comprised the responding registered nurses who were not practising in the nursing / midwifery profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, but excluding those who had been on leave during the survey period and those who were “economically active” but “unemployed”. |
| § | Main jobs referred to the jobs in which the registered nurses had spent most of their working time. |
6. Among 1 264 inactive registered nurses:
(i) 1 109 registered nurses reported not practising in the nursing / midwifery profession in Hong Kong and not seeking job in the local nursing / midwifery profession during the 30 days before the survey. The reasons reported for not seeking job included: 560 (50.5%) were retired, 230 (20.7%) were engaged in household duties, 157 (14.2%) wanted to take a rest / had no motive to work / had no financial need, 135 (12.2%) were working in other professions, etc.
(ii) 145 (11.5%) registered nurses reported practising overseas and ten (0.8%) reported practising in the Mainland.