The health workforce in Australia is large and diverse, covering many occupations. These include health practitioners registered by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) as well as other health professionals and health support workers. Due to data limitations regarding the other professional groups, this page presents information on the health practitioners who were registered with AHPRA.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is the statutory authority responsible for administering the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS).
The current list of registered health professions includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners, chiropractors, Chinese medicine practitioners, medical radiation practitioners, occupational therapists, optometrists, osteopaths, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, oral health therapists, dental hygienists, dental therapists, dental prosthetists, dentists, nurses, midwives and medical practitioners.
Health professionals may be registered in more than 1 profession with AHPRA. This page does not include AHPRA-registered professionals who are not in the labour force. All AHPRA numbers reported refer to registered health professionals who are employed in Australia and working in their registered profession.
There were more than 586,000 registered health practitioners in Australia in 2018 (the latest available data from the Australian Government Department of Health), which includes 98,400 medical practitioners; 334,000 nurses and midwives; 20,600 dental practitioners; and 133,400 allied health professionals (Table 1).
Trends
Between 2013 and 2018 the Australian registered health workforce increased by more than 82,000 professionals (Table 1).
The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) health professionals per 100,000 population (FTE rate) rose steadily for each profession group from 2013 to 2018 (Figure 1).
Nurses and midwives continue to be the largest group of registered health professionals in Australia, at about 334,000 registered in 2018 (57% of all registered health professionals).
Relative to the Australian population, allied health workers and medical practitioners showed the greatest growth in FTE rate from 2013 to 2018 (an increase of 54 and 33 FTE per 100,000 people, respectively).
Table 1: Key workforce statistics by health profession, 2013 and 2018.
Profession
|
Measure
|
2013
|
2018
|
% change
|
Allied health (a)
|
Number of practitioners
|
108,680
|
133,388
|
22.7
|
FTE total
|
98,545
|
119,914
|
21.7
|
FTE per 100,000 population
|
426
|
480
|
12.7
|
Dental practitioners (b)
|
Number of practitioners
|
17,847
|
20,589
|
15.4
|
FTE total
|
16,604
|
19,045
|
14.7
|
FTE per 100,000 population
|
72
|
76
|
5.9
|
Medical practitioners
|
Number of practitioners
|
82,408
|
98,395
|
19.4
|
FTE total
|
88,382
|
103,725
|
17.4
|
FTE per 100,000 population
|
382
|
415
|
8.7
|
Nurses and midwives
|
Number of practitioners
|
295,060
|
333,970
|
13.2
|
FTE total
|
267,164
|
293,711
|
9.9
|
FTE per 100,000 population
|
1,155
|
1,176
|
1.8
|
All professions
|
Number of practitioners
|
503,995
|
586,342
|
16.3
|
FTE total
|
470,695
|
536,395
|
14.0
|
FTE per 100,000 population
|
2,035
|
2,147
|
5.5
|
Notes:
-
Allied health professions include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners, chiropractors, Chinese medicine practitioners, medical radiation practitioners, occupational therapists, optometrists, osteopaths, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists and psychologists.
-
Dental practitioners registered with AHPRA include oral health therapists, dental hygienists, dental therapists, dental prosthetists, and dentists.
Sources: Department of Health 2020; ABS 2018.
Demographics
On average, Australia’s health workforce is predominantly female, and aged 20 to 34 years. However, there have been some notable changes between 2013 and 2018. There are more young health professionals in the workforce, and the proportion of female medical and dental practitioners has risen.
Between 2013 and 2018, the FTE rate of health professionals aged 20–34 years increased 18% (699 20–34 year old FTE per 100,000 people in the population in 2018 compared with 594 FTE per 100,000 people in 2013) (Figure 1). This is in contrast to the FTE rate of health professionals aged 45–54, which decreased by 8.3%, a reduction of 43 FTE per 100,000 people over the same period.
This change was largely driven by growth in the number of younger FTE nurses and midwives and medical practitioners relative to the Australian population. From 2013 to 2018, the FTE rate for nurses and midwives and medical practitioners aged 20–34 increased by 24% (69 FTE per 100,000 people) and 16% (16 FTE per 100,000 people) respectively.
Most of Australia’s health workforce is female—the ratio of FTE rates for health professionals that are women remains at around 2.5 times that of men. In terms of the overall number of health professionals, in 2018 this ratio increased to 3 times, with a total of 440,000 women and 146,000 men registered and employed in Australia’s health workforce.
Nurses and midwives and the allied health professions have remained female-dominated occupations since 2013. In 2018, the ratio of FTE rates for females in these occupations was over 7 times that of males for nurses and midwives, and nearly 2 times for allied health practitioners.
The proportion of both medical and dental practitioners that are women is rising. From 2013 to 2018, the FTE rates for female medical and dental practitioners increased 20% (27 FTE per 100,000 people) and 18% (5 FTE per 100,000 people) respectively. Over the same period, the FTE rate for male medical practitioners increased 2.6% (6.5 FTE per 100,000 people) and for dental practitioners decreased 2.5% (1.1 per 100,000).
Between 2013 and 2018, of all jurisdictions the Northern Territory had the highest number of registered health professionals relative to its population (2,790 FTE per 100,000 people in 2018). However, the Northern Territory also had the lowest dental practitioner FTE rate over this period (59 FTE per 100,000 people compared with 85 per 100,000 in South Australia). Between 2013 and 2018, New South Wales had the lowest FTE rate for all professions (2,014 FTE per 100,000 people in 2018).