A new report shows that over 75,800 nurses and midwives are currently practicing in Ireland.
The vast majority of people working in these professions continues to be women, making up more than 90% of all practising nurses and midwives.
The report from the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) says that while most newly registered nurses in the last year came from overseas, the number of Irish-educated registrants is continuing to rise.
There are now more nurses and midwives registered to work in Ireland than ever before, according to this first state of the register published by the NMBI.
It has been made possible through digitisation.
Around 1,800 Irish-educated nurses are expected to join the NMBI register this year.
The top overseas countries for newly registered nurses are India, Philippines, the UK and Zimbabwe.
NMBI chief executive Sheila McClelland said that the report will provide key insights for policy makers and workforce planners.
A recent report from the ESRI said that Ireland will need over 8,800 more nurses and midwives within the next 13 years.
General nursing continues to be the most common area of practice here, followed by psychiatry, intellectual disability and children's nursing.
