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Ratio of Health Care Professionals Employed in Direct Care to Supply, by Type of Professional

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

Measure of access to health care professionals. A low or high ratio may be desirable; interpretations should be evaluated alongside other relevant data (e.g., population need, models of care, mix of health care professionals).

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

Calculated by dividing the number of health care professionals employed in the profession and working in direct care by the total number of active registered health care professionals.

Number of health care professionals employed in the profession and working in direct care ÷ Total number of active registered health care professionals

Unit of Analysis: Service provider

Denominator

Total number of health care professionals

Numerator

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

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Name

Ratio of Health Care Professionals Employed in Direct Care to Supply, by Type of Professional

Short/Other Names

Activity Ratio

Description

Ratio of health care professionals employed in the profession and working in direct care divided by the number of registered health care professionals, by type of professional

Rationale

Based on World Health Organization (WHO) National Health Workforce Accounts indicator 1-05: Ratio Between Active and Registered Health Workers, by Cadre, this indicator can reveal the potential versus actual workforce providing direct care to support labour force studies.

Interpretation

Measure of access to health care professionals. A low or high ratio may be desirable; interpretations should be evaluated alongside other relevant data (e.g., population need, models of care, mix of health care professionals).

HSP Framework Dimension

Health system inputs and characteristics: Health system resources

Areas of Need

Not applicable

Targets/Benchmarks

WHO: Ratio between active and registered health workers, by cadre

Available Data Years

to

Geographic Coverage

  • All provinces/territories

Reporting Level/Disaggregation

  • National
  • Province/Territory
  • Region
  • Provider
  • Professional; may be further aggregated by age, 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

Calculated by dividing the number of health care professionals employed in the profession and working in direct care by the total number of active registered health care professionals.

Number of health care professionals employed in the profession and working in direct care ÷ Total number of active registered health care professionals

Unit of Analysis: Service provider

Type of Measurement

Ratio

Denominator

Description:

Total number of health care professionals

Inclusions:

  • Active registered health care professionals

Exclusions:

  • Inactive registrants or health care professionals who did not register in a province or territory.

Additional exclusion criteria vary by type of professional.

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:

  • Health care professionals not employed in the profession.
  • Health care professionals employed in education, research and administration.
  • Inactive registrants or health care professionals who did not register in a province or territory.

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. Ratio of Health Care Professionals Employed in Direct Care to Supply, by Type of Professional. Accessed April 26, 2025.