Ontario has continued to see net growth in its nursing supply every year since 2018 (even through the pandemic and its aftermath) as gains consistently outpace losses, according to a new report from the College of Nurses of Ontario’s (CNO).
The Movement and Attrition Report looks beyond gains and losses to show how nurses move through the profession, offering more insight into what workforce change really looks like in Ontario. Using registration renewal data from 2018 to 2025, the report examines not only who is entering and leaving the profession but shows how nurses move between categories and classes in more detail than was previously available,
Nursing supply is a measurement of capacity; it counts nurses who are registered and eligible to practice, not those currently employed in the workforce.
“Being responsible for nursing registration allows CNO to track changes in the nursing supply in more detail than other sources because of the data available to us,” said Silvie Crawford, CNO’s Registrar & CEO. “The trends we observed have direct implications for future workforce planning by our system partners.”
Considering there are roughly 200,000 nurses across the province, the number of nurses changing roles or leaving the profession stays fairly consistent.
More nurses are entering than leaving the system
Growth has been driven largely by new registrants, particularly internationally educated nurses (IENs), while losses have remained relatively stable over time.
Not all “losses” mean nurses are leaving Ontario—many reflect movement within CNO, like changing registration categories, which is currently not reflected in nationally collected data.
From 2018 to 2025, the number of nurses available to practice in Ontario grew each year. In 2025 alone, CNO recorded nearly 14,900 registrant gains compared with about 7,800 losses, resulting in a net increase of more than 7,100 nurses. Year over year growth reached 3.9% in 2025, the highest rate observed between 2018 and 2025.
New registrations accounted for the vast majority of gains. In 2025, 95% of registration gains came from nurses obtaining registration either for the first time or in a new nursing category, while reinstatements and nurses returning from the Non Practising class made up only a small share (See Table 1 in the report).
Losses, meanwhile, were primarily due to nurses moving into the Non Practising class or resigning, followed by nurses choosing to leave one nursing category for another.
Workforce growth mirrors supply trends
The nursing workforce—defined as nurses who are both registered and employed in nursing in Ontario—has followed a similar pattern. Workforce gains have exceeded losses every year since 2018, with particularly strong growth since 2022.
In 2025, workforce net growth reached nearly 8,700 nurses—the largest year over year increase on record.
While workforce losses have increased modestly since 2019, they have been outpaced by growing gains and have levelled off in recent years.
Overall, the report finds that both the supply of nurses and the actively employed workforce continue to expand.
Internationally educated nurses play a growing role
One of the most significant trends highlighted in the report is the impact of IENs. Net gains among IENs rose sharply after 2021, driven by increased applications and changes to regulatory processes aimed at improving their access to speedier registration. By 2025, IENs accounted for record net gains across Ontario’s nursing supply.
Internationally educated RNs have seen particularly rapid growth, contributing to the overall increase in RN supply. At the same time, internationally educated RPNs have experienced net losses since 2024, largely due to nurses moving from the RPN category to RN registration.
Age-based trends to watch
Fewer nurses under 35 are joining the workforce for each one in that age group who leaves, while more nurses aged 35 to 54 are joining for each one in that age range who leaves.
Age based analysis reveals more nuanced trends. Nurses under 35 continue to post strong net gains, but the gain to loss ratio for this group has declined since 2020. In 2025, for every nurse under 35 who left, about five nurses in that age group entered the profession—down from nearly seven in 2018. While net growth remains positive and young nurses continue to make up the largest source of new nurses, rising losses among younger nurses warrant ongoing monitoring.
By contrast, nurses aged 35 to 54 have seen improving gain to loss ratios, while nurses over 55 continue to experience net losses, reflecting expected retirement patterns.
Understanding movement, not just losses
A point to note from the report is the importance of distinguishing between true attrition and internal movement within CNO. Some nurses move to the non-practising class, which are considered losses to the nursing supply because they cannot practice, while some move to other practicing categories (e.g. RPN to RN), and do not represent losses to the nursing supply in Ontario.
What looks like attrition in one category is often movement within the profession. For instance, many RPN losses are actually gains to the RN supply rather than nurses leaving nursing altogether.
Regulatory data on movement within the profession is essential for workforce planning and the health care system would benefit from understanding the context of nursing supply in Ontario.
CNO regulates registered nurses (RNs), registered practical nurses (RPNs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) in Ontario, and is the authoritative source of province-wide data about nursing supply.