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Health Care Professionals Employed in Direct Care, by Age Group

This indicator gives the number of health care providers employed in the profession and working in direct care, by age group and type of provider.

Descriptive information on the proportion of health care professionals in each defined age group. May reflect education trends and/or recruitment/retention initiatives for health care professionals.

Data updated:
Data availability: to
Geographic coverage
All provinces/territories
Reporting level
National, Province/Territory
Calculation

Number of health care professionals working in direct care, sorted by 5-year age groups

Unit of Analysis: Service provider

Denominator

Predefined age 

Numerator

Number of health care professionals employed in the profession and working in direct care

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Name

Health Care Professionals Employed in Direct Care, by Age Group

Short/Other Names

Health Care Professional Distribution by Age Group

Description

Number of health care professionals employed in the profession and working in direct care, by age group and type of professional

Rationale

Based on World Health Organization (WHO) National Health Workforce Accounts indicator 1-07: Percentage of Active Health Workers in Different Age Groups, by Cadre and Sex, this indicator can support health human resources decision-makers in research on retirement levels, support projection modeling and influence recruitment campaigns.

Interpretation

Descriptive information on the proportion of health care professionals in each defined age group. May reflect education trends and/or recruitment/retention initiatives for health care professionals.

HSP Framework Dimension

Health system inputs and characteristics: Health system resources

Areas of Need

Not applicable

Targets/Benchmarks

WHO: Distribution by age

Available Data Years

to

Geographic Coverage

  • All provinces/territories

Reporting Level/Disaggregation

  • National
  • Province/Territory
  • Professional; may be further aggregated by highest level of education, setting of employment, urban/rural/remote, etc.

Indicator Results

Health workforce data tables

 

Update Frequency

Every year

Latest Results Update Date

Updates

Not applicable

Description

Number of health care professionals working in direct care, sorted by 5-year age groups

Unit of Analysis: Service provider

Type of Measurement

Number - Number of health care professionals in defined age groups (e.g., <30, 30–34, 35–39)

Denominator

Description:

Predefined age 

Numerator

Description:

Number of health care professionals employed in the profession and working in direct care

Inclusions:

  • Active registered health care professionals employed in the profession and working in direct care.

Additional inclusion criteria vary by type of professional.

Exclusions:

  • Inactive registrants or health care professionals who did not register in a province or territory,
  • Health care professionals who did not report year of birth and/or age at time of registration.

Additional exclusion criteria vary by type of professional.

Method of Adjustment

Not applicable

Adjustment Applied

None

Geographic Assignment

Place of service

Data Sources

  • HWDB

Caveats and Limitations

Statistics reported may differ from those reported by other organizations due to differences in data collection and reporting methodologies.

Issues of under- and/or over-coverage may vary by type of professional.

Data is not necessarily available for each province and territory for each type of professional.

Trending Issues

Vary by type of professional.

Comments

Please note that the available data years, geographic coverage, reporting level/disaggregation and update frequency vary by type of professional.

“Available data year” can refer to data year (for nurses) or to reporting year (for occupational therapists, physiotherapists and pharmacists).

References

World Health Organization. National Health Workforce Accounts: A Handbook . 2016.

World Health Organization.  Global Strategy on Health Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 . 2016.

How to cite:

Canadian Institute for Health Information. Health Care Professionals Employed in Direct Care, by Age Group. Accessed April 25, 2025.