Nigeria’s healthcare system is confronting a severe workforce shortage as the outflow of skilled professionals reached unprecedented levels between 2023 and 2024, according to a report released by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. The Nigeria Health Statistics Report, published on Friday, revealed that the country lost 4,193 doctors and dentists in 2024 alone, highlighting the growing challenges facing the sector.
The report shows that migration of healthcare personnel across all professional cadres increased by 200 per cent during the two-year period. A total of 43,221 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and medical laboratory scientists relocated abroad between 2023 and 2024, deepening the brain drain that has long threatened Nigeria’s fragile health infrastructure.
Despite modest increases in the number of trained health professionals between 2022 and 2024, only about half of registered health workers are currently licensed to practise, leaving the system with a limited workforce even before accounting for migration losses. The report emphasises that attrition, particularly through external migration, remains a major challenge, with nurses and midwives being the most affected groups.
The United Kingdom emerged as the most popular destination for doctors and dentists, receiving 4,627 professionals in 2024, followed by Canada (934), the United States (561), Australia (188), the United Arab Emirates (140), Ireland (113), the Maldives (77), Botswana (67), India (57) and Saudi Arabia (43). Migration among nurses and midwives has accelerated even further, with over 23,000 leaving the country in search of higher pay, better working conditions, and greater career opportunities. Pharmacists and medical laboratory scientists are also departing in significant numbers, with Canada, the UK, and Australia attracting the majority of pharmacists, while medical laboratory scientists have mainly moved to Canada (6,393), the UAE (2,010), Ireland (1,500), the United States (1,052), and the UK (410).
The mass exodus has left hospitals and clinics across the country severely understaffed, forcing the remaining workforce to cover expanded responsibilities and placing patient care, particularly in rural and underserved communities, under extreme pressure. While the Federal Government reports that more than 37,000 healthcare workers have been recruited since 2023, over 75 per cent in clinical roles, the shortage continues to expand.
Addressing the issue at the Joint Annual Report meeting of the health sector in Abuja, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, painted a stark picture of the healthcare workforce. The doctor-to-population ratio stands at 1:5,000, far below the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 1:600, while the nurse-to-population ratio is 1:2,000, compared with the WHO guideline of 1:300. The situation is compounded by the uneven distribution of health workers, with 75 per cent located in urban areas serving only 45 per cent of the population.
The minister highlighted urban–rural disparities as a critical factor worsening workforce shortages, noting that the concentration of health professionals in cities leaves rural communities underserved. Despite these challenges, the Federal Government remains committed to reversing the trend through strategic interventions.
Measures include expanding training capacities, strengthening primary healthcare services, updating the Health Workforce Registry, and implementing a migration policy designed to improve retention and encourage contributions from Nigerian health professionals living abroad. According to the report, the health workforce migration policy aims to create better working conditions domestically while fostering collaboration with professionals in the diaspora, even as migration pressures continue to challenge the sector.
