Retention Rates of Nursing Graduates from Local IHLs and Adjusting Nursing School Intake for 2030 Healthcare Workforce Targets

Mr Cai Yinzhou asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health (a) what proportion of local institutes of higher learning (IHL) nursing graduates enter and remain in the nursing profession after five years, and how this is tracked; and (b) how will nursing school intake trajectories be adjusted to sufficiently meet the 82,000 healthcare workforce target by 2030.

About eight in 10 nursing graduates from local institutes of higher learning (IHLs) enter the nursing profession each year. Of these, about seven in 10 remain in the profession after five years.

While the intakes of nursing students at local IHLs have increased from 2,100 in 2022 to nearly 2,300 in 2025, there is a limit to how much we can increase the intake. Young Singaporeans have diverse interests, and healthcare is already taking a good share of every cohort every year. To meet our long-term healthcare manpower needs, we will also need to find ways to further improve retention of existing nurses, recruit mid-career entrants through skills conversion and augment with foreign nurses.

Through these measures, we remain on track to meet our long-term manpower needs, with local nurses remaining the core and majority of the nursing workforce.