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July 17, 2025

Nursing by the Numbers: The Latest Nursing Trends and Patterns in Ontario

A cutout of a trio of diverse nurses with graph textures as the background.

Ontario is experiencing continued growth in nursing, according to CNO’s newly released Nursing Statistics Report 2025.

In 2025, the total number of nurses qualified to practice in Ontario’s health care system grew by nearly 4%, the largest increase since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Among other notable trends, CNO found internationally educated nurses (IENs) are playing an increasingly large role in fueling the latest growth, and the overall mix of nurse types and employment patterns has continued to evolve.

The cover of CNO’s Nursing Statistics Report 2025.

CNO’s Nursing Statistics Report 2025

In addition to the report’s release, CNO has updated its Nursing Data Dashboard, providing the latest 2025 nursing statistics in Ontario. A new feature for 2025 is the addition of data on new nurses and additional registrations.

“We are looking forward to sharing these important data findings with our health system partners to support them in health human resource planning and decision-making,” said Brent Knowles, CNO’s Director, Analytics & Research.

Latest trends and patterns

The supply of nurses in Ontario is expanding

  • Ontario added 7,133 nurses to its health care system in 2025, an increase of nearly 4% from 2024. 
  • A total of 190,896 nurses renewed their certificate of registration with CNO in 2025.

The composition of nurse types within the supply is changing 

  • In 2025, the number of Registered Nurses (RNs) and nurses with dual RN and Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) status, continued to grow in the province (by 5% and 22%, respectively), while the number of RPNs remained steady.
  • The recent growth in RNs and Dual RN/RPNs has led to RPNs representing a smaller proportion of the overall number of nurses since 2023.

IENs are a major driver behind the trends  

  • Though most new nurses remain Ontario graduates (over 54%), a large portion of the growth in nurses over the past year can be attributed to newly registered IENs. 
  • Further, a larger share of IENs are entering the profession now as RNs, compared to previous years when many registered with both RN and RPN designations. 
  • Among new RNs, internationally educated RNs have surpassed those educated in Ontario since 2023, and now account for over 53% of new RNs. 
  • There was also an increase in the first-time renewal rate for IENs in 2025 (just over 11%), even though IENs remain less likely to renew their registration after their first year in comparison to Ontario graduates.

Growth in the nursing workforce as employment dynamics are shifting

  • Ontario has seen continued growth in nurses employed in nursing in the province (4%), while the number of nurses employed in nursing outside Ontario has remained relatively stable in recent years.
  • The share of new nurses seeking nursing employment has gone up within the past year, particularly for RNs and IENs, by more than 5% for each group.

 

Read the full report now


 

About CNO

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) is the regulator of the nursing profession in Ontario. It is not a school or a nursing association. CNO acts in the public interest by:

  • assessing qualifications and registering individuals who want to practice nursing in Ontario.
  • setting the practice standards of the profession that nurses in Ontario are expected to meet.
  • promoting nurses' continuing competence through a quality assurance program.
  • holding nurses accountable to those standards by addressing complaints or reports about nursing care.

The College was founded in 1963. By establishing the College, the Ontario government was acknowledging that the nursing profession had the ability to govern itself and put the public's well-being ahead of professional interests.

For the latest information, please see our Nursing Statistics page.

Anyone who wants to use a nursing-related title — Registered Nurse (RN), Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) or Nurse Practitioner (NP) must become a member of CNO.

Frequently Asked Questions

Go to the public Register, Find a Nurse, to conduct a search for the nurse. Contact us if you can't find the person you are looking for.

All public information available about nurses is posted in the public Register, Find a Nurse, which contains profiles of every nurse in Ontario. Publicly available information about nurses include their registration history, business address, and information related to pending disciplinary hearings or past findings.

Unregistered practitioners are people who are seeking employment in nursing or holding themselves out as being able to practice nursing in Ontario, but who are not qualified to do so. They are not registered members of CNO. Only people registered with CNO can use nursing-related titles or perform certain procedures that could cause harm if carried out by a non-registered health professional. CNO takes the issue of unregistered practitioners seriously. See Unregistered Practitioners for more information.

To ensure procedural fairness for both the patient (or client) and the nurse, the Regulated Health Professions Act requires that information gathered during an investigation remain confidential until the matter is referred to the Discipline Committee or Fitness to Practise Committee. CNO will not disclose any information that could identify patients (or clients) or compromise an investigation. See Investigations: A Process Guide for more information.

Information obtained during an investigation will become public if the matter is referred to a disciplinary hearing. If a complaint is not referred to a hearing, no information will be available publicly.

See CNO's hearings schedule, which is updated as hearing dates are confirmed. Hearings at CNO are open to the public and the media. For details on how to attend a hearing, contact the Hearings Administration Team.

A summary of allegations and the disciplinary panel outcomes can be found on the public Register, Find a Nurse. Full decisions and reasons are also available.

Where a disciplinary panel makes a finding of professional misconduct, they have the authority to reprimand a nurse, and suspend or revoke a nurse's registration. Terms, conditions and limitations can also be imposed on a nurse's registration, which restricts their practice for a set period. Nurses can also be required to complete remedial activities, such as reviewing CNO documents and meeting with an expert, before returning to practice.

For detailed information see the Sexual Abuse Prevention section.

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