Indicator Metadata

Health Care Providers Employed in Direct Care per 100,000 Population, by Health Region and Jurisdiction

Health Care Provider Density by Province/Territory

Health care providers employed in the profession and working in direct care, per 100,000 population, by type of provider, health region and province/territory

Calculated by dividing the number of health care providers working in direct care in each health region or province/territory by population estimates and multiplying by 100,000

(Number of health care providers employed in the profession and working in direct care by health region or province/territory ÷ Population estimate) × 100,000

Unit of Analysis: Service provider per 100,000 population

Place of service

Rate - Rate per 100,000

None

Not applicable

Description:
Total population in a Canadian province/territory or in a health region
Inclusions:
Provincial/territorial or regional population estimates from Statistics Canada

Description:
Number of health care providers employed in the profession and working in direct care
Inclusions:

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

Additional inclusion criteria vary by type of provider.

Exclusions:

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

Additional exclusion criteria vary by type of provider.

Based on World Health Organization (WHO) National Health Workforce Accounts indicator 1-03: Density of Active Health Workers per 1,000 Population by Cadre and at Subnational Level, this indicator provides information on the density and distribution of health workers. It can support the assessment of health services and resources at the provincial/territorial levels.

A measure of access to health care providers

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 providers).

Health System Inputs and Characteristics: Efficient allocation of resources

Not applicable

WHO: Health worker density and distribution

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

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

HWDB

Type of Year:

First Available Year:
2010
Last Available Year:
2019

All provinces/territories

National, Province/Territory, Region

Every year

Web Tool:
Health workforce data tables
URL: https://www.cihi.ca/en/health-workforce

Not applicable

CIHI uses the unit of analysis "per 100,000 population," which is different from the WHO's "density per 1,000 population." Caution should be used when comparing results across countries.

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 provider.

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

Population estimates may change over time.

Vary by type of provider

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

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