Nurse to population ratio: 2.23 per 1,000 (2026, derived)

2.23 (nurses per 1,000 population, 2026). PUBLISHED WORDING: 'As informed by Indian Nursing Council (INC), there are 39.40 lakh nursing personnel in the country and assuming 80% active, resulting in a nurse to population ratio of 2.23 nurses per thousand population.' DERIVED, NOT MEASURED: the numerator is a REGISTER COUNT discounted by an ASSUMED - not observed - 80% activity rate, and the denominator is a projected population. The underlying 39.40 lakh pools all nursing categories registered with state nursing councils, so it is not a count of practising or employed nurses. CBHI's National Health Profile 2023 publishes no nurse-per-1,000 ratio at all. Treat 2.23 as a policy statement rather than an employed-workforce density, and do not place it on the same axis as the OECD 'practising' ratios used for Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand in this file.

Supporting location PIB release ID 2225755, 'Update on Health Workforce Availability in Public Health Facilities', 10 FEB 2026, paragraph 3

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