MORE THAN a third of the UK’s nursing and midwifery workforce is now made up of black, Asian and ethnic minority professionals for the first time, latest figures revealed on Wednesday (29).
According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), a record 293,778 minority professionals are now on its register, accounting for 33.8 per cent of the total workforce.
Overall, the organisation’s register has reached a new high of 867,935 nurses, midwives, and nursing associates.
India remained the largest source of internationally educated joiners, with 4,215 new registrations in 2025-26, although this was a 54.4 per cent drop from 9,249 the previous year. Nigeria ranked second with 1,614 joiners, followed by Ghana with 1,391. The Philippines was not among the top three source countries for the first time since 2015-2016.
Internationally educated professionals made up 26.4 per cent of new joiners, down from 39.1 per cent a year earlier and 49.4 per cent in 2023-24.
Figures also revealed that new UK-trained entrants are becoming more diverse. Last year, 35 per cent of UK-educated professionals joining the register were from minority backgrounds, up from 22.3 per cent in the year to March 2021.
The NMC said the milestone comes as many minority professionals continue to face racism while delivering frontline care. It urged employers across the country to adopt its new antiracism principles for nursing and midwifery education and practice ahead of planned changes to its professional code. The revised code will include stronger expectations for nurses, midwives and nursing associates to recognise, challenge and tackle racism.
Emma Westcott, the NMC’s executive director of strategy and insight, said the workforce was now “larger and more ethnically diverse than ever” and that the minority professionals on the register were “essential to the delivery of the safe and effective care we all rely on.”
She said it was “more important than ever” that nursing and midwifery professionals could work without facing racism or discrimination. Westcott said the NMC had published anti-racism principles and would shortly consult on a revised code with “clearer expectations” that professionals should “recognise, challenge and disrupt racism”.
Despite the record workforce, growth in the register has slowed sharply. The register increased by 14,228 professionals, or 1.7 per cent, in 2025-26, compared with growth of 27,289 professionals, or 3.3 per cent, the previous year.
The slowdown was mainly driven by fewer new joiners and a rise in the number leaving the profession. A total of 41,542 people joined the register for the first time in 2025-26, down 21.4 per cent from the previous year, while 30,323 professionals left, an increase of 5.3 per cent. International recruitment also continued to fall.
Retirement, physical or mental health, and burnout or exhaustion were the main reasons for leaving the profession.
The NMC noted that Nigeria and Ghana are both on the government’s “red list”, where active recruitment of health workers is not permitted under the ethical recruitment code.
Westcott urged employers to continue following the government’s ethical recruitment code because two of the top three overseas source countries are on the red list. She said, “We don’t want to undermine health systems in countries with the biggest workforce challenges.”
