![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3_01HMB3NESTFV5D3ZGGF4NPPP3A.jpg\")
The number of nursing and midwifery professionals in Northern Ireland has reached a record high(Image: Peter Byrne\/PA Wire)<\/p>\nBlack, Asian and ethnic minority professionals now account for 14.4% of the registerThe number of nursing and midwifery professionals in Northern Ireland has reached a record high(Image: Peter Byrne\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
The number of nursing and midwifery professionals on the register in Northern Ireland has reached a record 29,666.<\/p>\n
That’s according to new data today from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), with a total of 1,461 people<\/a> joining the register in 2024\u20132025.<\/p>\n The total number now registered includes 27,975 nurses (+3.4%), 1,352 midwives (+1%), and 338 dual registrants (both a nurse and midwife<\/a>; +1.8%).<\/p>\n READ MORE: Northern Ireland disorder: PSNI make 31 arrests to date<\/a>READ MORE: Northern Ireland one petrol bomb away from a racist murder, Belfast rally hears<\/a><\/p>\n As the register has continued to grow, it has become more ethnically diverse due to international recruitment from around the world, combined with an increasingly ethnically diverse cohort of UK-educated joiners. Black<\/a>, Asian <\/a>and ethnic minority professionals now account for 14.4% of the total register in Northern Ireland \u2013 6.1 percentage points more than five years ago.<\/p>\n A total of 952 people in Northern Ireland<\/a> left the NMC register last year, with retirement always the top reason for leaving in the NMC\u2019s annual leavers\u2019 survey. However, concerningly, in Northern Ireland the second-most common reason for leaving the register last year was people\u2019s physical <\/a>or mental health<\/a>, which is consistent with the current UK-wide picture.<\/p>\n Only 28% of leavers in Northern Ireland said they would recommend a career in nursing or midwifery<\/a>, although this is higher than last year\u2019s figure of 21.5% and the UK average of 19.9%.<\/p>\n Paul Rees MBE, Interim Chief Executive and Registrar, said: \u201cNursing and midwifery professionals are a lifeline to people and communities across Northern Ireland and it is reassuring to see a rise in their numbers.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the NMC\u2019s register has continued to grow, it has become more diverse. That\u2019s a real strength. It also means we must make sure everyone can work in an environment that values diversity and tackles racism<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Nursing and Midwifery Council has a responsibility to be fair to everyone on our register, whatever their background. That\u2019s why we\u2019ll soon be setting bold new targets to eliminate bias from our regulatory processes.\u201d<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage<\/strong> here<\/a> <\/strong>and<\/strong> sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a> <\/strong>here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Black, Asian and ethnic minority professionals now account for 14.4% of the registerThe number of nursing and midwifery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[25712,51856,78905,105,218,1144,457,20362,455,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-193279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-asian-communities","9":"tag-black-communities","10":"tag-fitness-and-wellbeing","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-people","15":"tag-race","16":"tag-real-life","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114702074756231581","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}