section_path: Professional nursing/Diversity
section_name: Diversity
paragraph_text: Diversity
  
  Nursing is a female-dominated profession in many countries; according to the WHO's 2020 State of the World's Nursing, approximately 90% of the nursing workforce is female. For instance, the male-to-female ratio of nurses is approximately 1:19 in Canada and the United States. This ratio is matched in many other countries. Notable exceptions include Francophone Africa, which includes the countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Guinea, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, and Togo, which all have more male than female nurses. In Europe, in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic and Italy, over 20% of nurses are male. In the United Kingdom, 11% of nurses and midwives registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) are male. The number of male nurses in the United States doubled between 1980 and 2000. On average, male nurses in the US receive more pay than female nurses.