How many nurses are there?
In the US, there are 2.9 million (2004 data) registered nurses, with 83% being employed in nursing. In Canada, there are 252,000 (2005 data) Registered Nurses and 65,000 licensed practice nurses. Nearly 13% of US nurses (375,000) and 2.5% (6,300) of Canadian RNs and have earned masters or doctoral degrees. In the U.S. 40,000 hold doctoral degrees. There are 240,000 U.S. advanced practice nurses–140,000 nurse practitioners and 70,000 clinical nurse specialists (CNS). But only 1 in 6 CNSs are practicing as such due to the denursification of health care over the past decade and a half. The US has 33,000 nurse anesthetists and 14,000 nurse midwives. These four specialty groups are generally masters prepared or higher. Nurses employed in nursing make up 0.76% and 0.74% of the population in the US and Canada respectively. In 2007 Cuba, there are reportedly 89,000 nurses — 25,000 with BSNs and 300 with masters degrees. The actual average annual earnings of US RNs employed full-time in 2004
