About these statistics

This page contains statistics about nurses who are currently registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) as of December 1, 2025.

CNO registers nurses in two categories:

  • Registered Nurse (RN) and
  • Registered Practical Nurse (RPN)

There are four classes of registration, as shown in the following table:

Class Registered Nurse (RN)  Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) 
General Y Y
Extended (NP) Y N
Temporary Y Y
Non-Practising Y Y

Any nurse who holds any certificate of registration with CNO is considered a registrant. A registration is specific to a category and class, and registrants may hold more than one registration.

General & Extended Classes: Nurses who have met all the requirements to become registered to work as nurses in Ontario are registered in the General Class. The Extended Class is for RNs who have additional education and clinical experience that allows them to practice as Nurse Practitioners (NPs).

Temporary Class: The Temporary Class is a registration option for applicants who have met all requirements to register in the General Class, except for the education and registration exam requirements. Nurses in the Temporary Class are allowed to practice under defined terms and conditions. They can join the General Class after they meet all the requirements.

Non-Practising Class: Nurses who want to keep their registration when they are not practicing nursing in Ontario may register in the Non-Practising Class. They cannot practice nursing in Ontario, either paid or unpaid.

Learn more about Classes of Registration.

Registrants in the General and Extended Classes

The following graph shows the number of registrants holding registration in the General or Extended Class at the start of each month.

The number of registrants in the General and Extended Classes displays an overall upward trend.

A slight dip in numbers appears each year following CNO’s Annual Renewal process.

Each year, the number of registrants peaks in December and then falls between January and March as some registrants choose not to renew their General or Extended Class registration. Some of these registrants enter the Non-Practising Class and some resign their registration or let their registration expire due to non-payment of the annual fee.

After March, the number of registrants starts to grow again as new nurses register for the first time and former registrants reinstate their registration in the General and Extended Classes during the year.

Chart 1 Registrants in the general and extended class

The following PDF presents the growth and decline of registrants holding active registration in the General or Extended Class at the start of each month. It includes:

  • the number of registrants holding active registration
  • monthly additions
  • monthly losses
  • monthly net changes

Registrants in General and Extended classes year over year

The following graph shows the number of registrants holding registration in the General or Extended Class at the start of each December for the previous five years. The total number is broken down into the categories and classes of registration they hold.

Dual registrants hold registrations in both the RN and RPN categories at the same time.

Presenting registrant totals at the same time each year allows for year-over-year comparisons, while accounting for seasonal fluctuations.

Chart 2 for Registrants in general and extended classes year over year

The following table shows the number of registrants in the General and Extended Classes at the start of December 2025 and compares it to the same time in the previous year.

Registrations Held December 2024 December 2025 Year-Over-Year Change
RN General only 128,366 132,960 4,594
RPN General only 60,775 62,029 1,254
RN Extended (NP) only 5,464 5,905 441
Dual RN RPN 3,591 3,348 -243
Total 198,196 204,242 6,046

Current NP Specialties

Current registrations in the Extended Class by specialty as of December 1, 2025

All Registered Nurses in the Extended Class (NPs) have one or more specialty certificates. The following table shows the number of specialty certificates held by NPs as of December 1, 2025.

NP Specialties Number of Registrants
Primary Health Care only 4,729
Adult only 855
Paediatrics only 288
Multiple Specialties 33
Total RN Extended (NP) Registrants 5,905

Registrants in the Temporary Class

The following graph shows the number of registrants holding registration in the Temporary Class at the start of each month.

The numbers vary greatly throughout the year. They typically peak in July as graduates from Ontario nursing programs register in the Temporary Class while they prepare to write the registration exam and complete their General Class application.

See image graph Registrants in the Temporary Class

Registrants in Temporary Class year over year

The following graph shows the number of registrants holding registration in the Temporary Class at the start of each December for the previous five years. The total number is broken down by the categories and classes of registration they hold. Presenting registrant totals at the same time each year allows for year-over-year comparisons, while accounting for seasonal fluctuations.

See Registrants in Temporary Class Year Over Year

The following table shows the number of registrants in the Temporary Class at the start of December 2025 and compares it to the same time in the previous year.

Registrations Held December 2024 December 2025 Year-Over-Year Change
RN Temporary 477 346 -131
RPN Temporary 852 807 -45
RN Temporary and RPN General 79 56 -23
RN General and RPN Temporary 35 16 -19
Dual RN RPN Temporary 3 0 -3
Total 1,446 1,225 -221

Registrants in the Non-Practising Class

The following graph shows the number of registrants holding registration in the Non-Practising Class at the start of each month.

The number of registrants in the Non-Practising Class displays an overall upward trend. Each year, the number of registrants in the Non-Practising Class spikes in January and February. This spike mainly consists of nurses who are not able to renew in the General or Extended classes, because they no longer meet the declaration of practice requirement. These registrants must choose to enter the Non-Practising Class, resign their General or Extended class registration or let it expire.

The number of registrants in the Non-Practising Class falls in March, when nurses who do not wish to renew their Non-Practising registration either resign it or let it expire.

See image graph Registrants in the Non-practicing class

Registrants in Non-practising class year over year

The following graph shows the number of registrants holding registration in the Non-Practising Class at the start of each December for the previous five years. The total number is broken down by the categories and classes of registration they hold. Dual Non-Practising Class registrants hold Non-Practising Class registrations in both the RN and RPN categories at the same time. Presenting registrant totals at the same time each year allows for year-over-year comparisons, while accounting for seasonal fluctuations.

See image graph Registrants in Non-practising class year over year

The following table shows the number of registrants in the Non-Practising Class at the start of December 2025 and compares it to the same time in the previous year.

Registrations Held December 2024 December 2025 Year-Over-Year Change
RN Non-Practising 12,305 12,508 203
RPN Non-Practising 3,882 3,847 -35
Dual RN and RPN Non-Practising 21 26 5
Total 16,208 16,381 173

New registrations in the General and Extended Classes

New registrations represent the number of nurses who registered in a particular category and class of registration for the first time. They may already hold registration with CNO in another category or class at the time of registration. A nurse registering for the first time as a dual RN/RPN registrant would be counted in both the RN General Class and RPN General Class.

New registrations are divided into two types: new registrants and additional registrations.

New registrants are nurses who register with CNO for the first time in either the General Class or Extended Class, regardless of category. They represent new nurses to the system and can be categorized as a new registrant only once in their career. These are mainly new graduates and nurses who are new to practicing in Ontario. For any subsequent registration they will not be considered a new registrant.

Additional registrations apply to nurses who were already registered with CNO when they gain a new registration and either:

  • completed an additional registration in a new category or
  • moved from the General Class to the Extended class.

These nurses represent enhanced capacity to the system, but they are not new nurses. For example, they would include an RPN that gains additional RN registration or an RN that becomes an NP. In both cases, because the nurse already held CNO registration, they are considered additional registrations as opposed to new registrants.

Every year, a small number of applicants register as an RN and RPN on the same day. In these cases, if they have no previous CNO registration, their RN registration is categorized as a new registrant and their RPN is considered the additional registration.

For more data related to our applicants seeking registration, see our Applicant Statistics.

To learn more about our registration process, see our Registration Requirements.

The following tables show the number of new registrants and new registrations in each category and class for three date ranges:

  • The past 12 months from December 1, 2024 to November 30, 2025
  • Year to date (YTD) from January 1, 2025 to November 30, 2025
  • The previous month – November 2025


New Registrations by Type

New Registrants by Category and Class

New Registrants by Location of Education

Additional Registrations by Category and Class

Additional Registrations by Location of Education