James Brown hit the nail on the head when he wrote the lyric: ‘This is a man's world, but it wouldn't be nothing without a woman.'

New research shows women make up the majority of the global health workforce, but they remain more likely to work in professions that offer lower pay and fewer opportunities for career progression.

The study found the global health workforce nearly tripled between 1990 and 2023, rising from 40.9m to 122.1m workers. Women accounted for 71.4% of that increase and made up 68.9% of all health workers in 2023.

Published in The Lancet Public Health, the research was based on data from 204 countries and territories and looked at 20 different types of health workers.

Women represented 80.7% of nurses, 96% of midwives and 89.5% of community health staff, but fewer than half of doctors were women.

In dentistry and pharmacy, women were also more likely to work in assistant roles.

Megan Knight, lead author of the study, said: ‘Women have transformed the global health workforce over the past three decades, but they continue to be concentrated in professions that generally offer lower pay and fewer opportunities for leadership.'

Despite the increase in workers, researchers estimate 34.4m more health workers are needed worldwide, including 23.9m nurses and midwives, 7.1m doctors, 1.8m dentists and 1.6m pharmacists.

The biggest shortages are in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. South Asia would need another 2.6m doctors and around 10m nurses and midwives.

In sub-Saharan Africa, there were 14.5 nurses for every 10,000 people, compared with 121.8 in high-income countries.

Chad and Madagascar had the lowest numbers, with 3.2 and 3.3 nurses per 10,000 people respectively. Belgium had 171.7 and the US had 161.4.

Dr Annie Hakkenstad, senior author of the study, said: ‘Health workers are the foundation of every health system.

‘Although the global workforce has expanded dramatically, millions more doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, and pharmacists will be needed to ensure people everywhere can access essential health services.

‘These findings provide countries with minimum thresholds for planning the workforce needed to strengthen health systems and move toward universal health coverage.'

Emily Whitehouse is features editor at Social Care Today.