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. 2010 Nov 22;89(3):184–194. doi: 10.2471/BLT.10.082784

Table 3. Mental health workforce shortages in 58 low- and middle-income countries.

WHO region & country/territorya WB income category Mental health professionals (no. per 100 000 population)
Psychiatrists
 Nurses
 Psychosocial care providers
Currentb Target Differencec Suggested increase Currentb Target Differencec Suggested increase Currentb Target Differencec Suggested increase
Africa
Benin LIC 0.19 1.03 −0.84 66 0.21 9.49 −9.28 730 0.29 8.63 −8.33 656
Burundi LIC 0.01 0.92 −0.91 67 0.42 8.65 −8.23 607 1.13 8.08 −6.95 513
Congo MIC 0.11 0.89 −0.79 27 0.70 8.99 −8.29 283 1.05 6.92 −5.87 200
Eritrea LIC 0.06 0.89 −0.84 37 0.33 8.37 −8.04 360 0.44 7.88 −7.44 333
Ethiopia LIC 0.02 0.89 −0.87 659 0.26 8.34 −8.08 6113 0.88 7.85 −6.97 5 275
Nigeria LIC 0.15 1.03 −0.88 1240 2.41 9.56 −7.15 10 078 0.93 8.69 −7.75 10 923
Uganda LIC 0.08 0.81 −0.73 211 0.79 7.66 −6.88 1974 0.27 7.46 −7.19 2 063
South Africa MIC 0.28 1.03 −0.75 361 10.08 10.36 −0.28 135 1.58 7.69 −6.11 2 937
Americas
Argentina MIC 9.20 1.96 7.24 0d 12.91 19.83 −6.92 2682 13.19 12.62 0.57 0d
Belize MIC 0.66 1.32 −0.66 2 7.97 13.38 −5.41 15 9.29 9.58 −0.29 1
Bolivia MIC 1.06 1.37 −0.31 29 0.35 13.86 −13.51 1241 2.57 9.78 −7.21 662
Chile MIC 4.65 1.84 2.81 0d 1.65 18.66 −17.00 2771 14.25 12.16 2.09 0d
Costa Rica MIC 3.06 1.61 1.45 0d 4.13 16.33 −12.20 528 12.22 11.05 1.17 0d
Dominican Republic MIC 2.08 1.50 0.58 0d 1.61 15.20 −13.59 1296 8.01 10.44 −2.42 231
Ecuador MIC 2.51 1.57 0.94 0d 0.93 15.90 −14.97 1956 5.84 10.85 −5.01 655
El Salvador MIC 1.39 1.53 −0.14 8 2.12 15.45 −13.33 808 6.51 10.52 −4.01 243
Guatemala MIC 0.57 1.27 −0.70 89 1.28 12.83 −11.55 1469 0.57 9.24 −8.67 1 102
Guyana MIC 0.53 1.62 −1.09 8 0.40 16.34 −15.94 121 8.66 11.29 −2.63 20
Honduras MIC 0.82 1.30 −0.48 33 2.58 13.12 −10.54 726 2.70 9.40 −6.70 461
Jamaica MIC 1.13 1.66 −0.53 14 9.55 16.77 −7.22 192 16.09 11.13 4.96 0d
Nicaragua MIC 0.91 1.16 −0.25 14 1.71 11.72 −10.01 546 5.37 8.64 −3.27 179
Panama MIC 3.47 1.60 1.87 0d 4.38 16.16 −11.78 380 8.83 11.03 −2.20 71
Paraguay MIC 1.31 1.41 −0.10 6 1.58 14.22 −12.65 747 3.96 9.97 −6.01 355
Suriname MIC 1.45 1.61 −0.16 1 13.96 16.31 −2.35 12 34.38 11.13 23.25 0d
Uruguay MIC 19.36 2.26 17.10 0d 0.69 22.90 −22.20 739 10.57 14.08 −3.52 117
Eastern Mediterranean
Afghanistan LIC 0.01 0.97 −0.97 237 0.15 9.20 −9.05 2218 0.41 8.71 −8.30 2 035
Djibouti MIC 0.33 1.05 −0.72 6 0.83 10.62 −9.79 79 0.33 8.08 −7.75 62
Egypt MIC 1.44 1.16 0.28 0d 2.60 11.79 −9.19 7089 1.03 8.64 −7.60 5 867
Iraq MIC 0.34 1.04 −0.70 199 0.54 10.53 −9.99 2822 0.65 8.08 −7.43 2 099
Islamic Republic of Iran MIC 1.19 1.28 −0.09 65 7.82 12.96 −5.13 3633 52.17 9.52 42.66 0d
Jordan MIC 1.14 1.06 0.08 0d 3.95 10.70 −6.75 376 1.94 8.27 −6.33 352
Morocco MIC 1.02 1.62 −0.59 181 2.17 16.46 −14.30 4359 1.71 10.27 −8.56 2 610
Pakistan LIC 0.13 1.18 −1.05 1735 18.86 10.98 7.88 0d 2.30 9.84 −7.54 12 508
Somalia LIC 0.07 1.07 −1.00 83 0.33 10.04 −9.71 811 1.20 9.39 −8.19 684
Sudan MIC 0.06 1.04 −0.98 380 0.01 10.53 −10.52 4070 0.75 8.03 −7.28 2 818
Tunisia MIC 1.53 1.35 0.18 0d 3.71 13.68 −9.97 984 2.97 9.80 −6.84 675
European
Albania MIC 3.20 1.79 1.40 0d 7.00 18.29 −11.28 351 3.93 11.42 −7.49 233
Armenia MIC 5.88 2.10 3.78 0d 5.42 21.42 −16.00 490 22.91 12.79 10.12 0d
Azerbaijan MIC 5.18 1.64 3.54 0d 8.36 16.78 −8.42 711 8.63 10.70 −2.07 175
Georgia MIC 5.90 2.35 3.55 0d 7.71 23.98 −16.28 727 22.88 13.92 8.97 0d
Kyrgyzstan MIC 3.41 1.53 1.88 0d 9.24 15.56 −6.32 330 13.57 10.22 3.35 0d
Latvia MIC 8.31 2.69 5.62 0d 35.72 27.41 8.31 0d 28.52 15.97 12.55 0d
Republic of Moldova MIC 4.78 1.72 3.06 0d 15.35 17.63 −2.27 85 29.51 10.86 18.65 0d
Tajikistan LIC 1.12 1.38 −0.26 17 1.93 12.79 −10.86 710 6.33 10.45 −4.12 269
Ukraine MIC 8.66 2.65 6.01 0d 26.20 27.03 −0.82 385 42.47 15.81 26.66 0d
Uzbekistan LIC 3.56 1.59 1.97 0d 6.54 14.61 −8.06 2122 6.37 11.54 −5.17 1 362
South-East Asia
Bangladesh LIC 0.07 1.27 −1.20 1831 0.20 11.79 −11.59 17 753 0.22 10.06 −9.84 15 066
Bhutan MIC 0.45 1.19 −0.75 5 1.49 12.11 −10.63 69 2.86 8.62 −5.77 37
India (Uttarakhand province)e MIC 0.08 1.20 −1.12 101 4.78 12.16 −7.38 669 2.87 8.65 −5.78 525
Maldives MIC 0.69 1.17 −0.48 1 1.38 11.85 −10.46 31 2.42 8.53 −6.11 18
Nepal LIC 0.13 1.19 −1.06 288 0.27 11.03 −10.76 2928 0.19 9.56 −9.36 2 549
Sri Lanka MIC 0.18 1.47 −1.29 251 1.91 14.92 −13.01 2542 3.55 9.96 −6.41 1 252
Thailand MIC 0.66 1.46 −0.79 524 3.81 14.85 −11.04 7278 2.81 9.73 −6.91 4 559
Timor Leste MIC 0.11 0.95 −0.84 8 15.32 9.56 5.76 0d 6.80 7.29 −0.50 5
Western Pacific
China (Hunan province) MIC 1.41 2.41 −1.00 63 3.19 24.56 −21.37 1352 4.13 14.16 −10.03 634
Mongolia MIC 0.51 1.84 −1.33 34 7.62 18.77 −11.15 284 8.49 11.96 −3.47 89
Philippines MIC 0.42 1.49 −1.07 916 0.91 15.08 −14.17 12 116 2.11 10.40 −8.29 7 090
Viet Nam LIC 0.35 2.05 −1.70 1426 2.10 18.39 −16.29 13 692 1.93 13.45 −11.52 9 687
Total shortage (no.) LMIC 11 222 127 575 100 256

LIC, low-income country; LMIC, low- and middle-income countries; MIC, middle-income country; WB, World Bank; WHO, World Health Organization.

a The following had missing values for at least one of the professional groups classified under psychosocial care providers: Armenia, Benin, Bhutan, China (Hunan province), Egypt, Georgia, India (Uttarakhand province), Jordan, Nepal, Nigeria, Paraguay, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Uruguay and Uzbekistan.

b The current supply of full-time-equivalent staff was obtained from the World Health Organization Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS version V.2.2).19

c To calculate workforce shortages, full-time-equivalent staff target levels were subtracted from current supply levels. It was assumed that a surplus in one country did not offset shortages in other countries.

d In adding the workforce shortages for each specialty, all surplus values were converted to 0.

e Uttarakhand (India) had a missing value for nurses; the mean value for its WHO region (South-East Asia) and income level (MIC) was used instead.