Abstract
Problem
Ensuring an adequate supply of the midwife workforce will be essential to meet the
future demands for maternity care within Australia.
Background
Aim: To project the overall number of midwives registered with the Nursing and Midwifery
Board of Australia and the timing of their retirement to 2043 based upon the ageing
of the population.
Methods: Using data on the number of registered midwives released by the Nursing and
Midwifery Board of Australia we calculated the five-year cumulative attrition rate
of each five-year age group. This attrition rate was then utilized to estimate the
number of midwives registered in each five-year time period from 2018 to 2043. We
then estimated the number of midwives that would be registered after also accounting
for stated retirement intentions.
Findings
Between 2018 and 2023 the overall number of registered midwives will decline from
28,087 to 26,642. After this time there is expected to be growth in the total number,
reaching 28,392 in 2028 and 55,747 in 2043. If midwives did relinquish their registration
at a rate indicated in previous workforce satisfaction surveys, the overall number
of registered midwives would decline to 19,422 in 2023, and remain below 2018 levels
until 2038.
Discussion
Due to the age distribution of the current registered midwifery workforce the imminent
retirement of a large proportion of the workforce will see a decline in the number
of registered midwives in the coming years. Additional retirement due to workforce
dis-satisfaction may exacerbate this shortfall.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 06, 2020
Accepted:
February 29,
2020
Received in revised form:
January 7,
2020
Received:
August 29,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.