Canada is burning through its young nurses at an alarming rate, MEI warns

Ontario: 31 nurses below the age of 35 left the workforce for every 100 new nurses who started in 2024, finds new MEI report

Canada is burning through its young nurses at an alarming rate as healthcare systems across the country struggle to retain them, reveals a new publication released this morning by the MEI.

“For every 100 nurses under 35 who registered to practise in the country, 34 other young nurses did not renew their registration in 2024,” says Gerard Lucyshyn, vice president of Research at the MEI and author of the report. “While this is an improvement over the year before, the ratio remains high and puts undue pressure on our strained system.”

Across Canada, there were 27,139 nursing positions open in 2025. This is a drop from 2023, but remains roughly three times higher than in 2016.

Ontario saw 31 nurses under 35 leaving for every 100 who entered the profession in 2024.

While this is down from the year before, this ratio remains 40 per cent higher than it was in 2014. This represents the largest deterioration over the 10-year period.

“Despite an improvement over the previous year, Ontario’s young nurses are still leaving in worryingly high numbers,” notes Mr. Lucyshyn. “Ontario needs to give them the working conditions and flexibility they need to remain in the profession.”

British Columbia remains, this year again, the best performer in the country, having cut the turnover of young nurses by 53 per cent since 2014. Yet, with 26 young nurses not renewing their license to practice for every 100 that enter the profession, more needs to be done to keep nurses motivated and in the profession.

Since 2022, the BC College of Nurses and Midwives has streamlined the accreditation process for internationally educated nurses by introducing a “triple-track” application that covers registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, and healthcare assistant designations.

“Flexibility is key,” notes Mr. Lucyshyn. “Nurses are the backbone of our healthcare system, and we need to ensure that the system works for them, not against them.”

According to the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions 2026 survey:

• Over four in ten nurses reported having worked involuntary overtime in the past six months;
• More than nine in ten experienced some form of violence or abuse at work in the past year;
• Half are showing signs of burnout.

The MEI researcher urges provinces to look to British Columbia’s shift-swapping pools, which allow nurses to trade shifts without administrative approval, as a model to emulate.

Other promising solutions include allowing nurses greater freedom to work for private clinics, travel nurse agencies, or telehealth companies, enabling them to better manage their schedules and maintain a healthier work-life balance.

“Burning through young nurses today means having fewer nurses for tomorrow,” says Mr. Lucyshyn. “Protecting our healthcare system requires loosening the grip of the government monopoly in order to offer nurses the working conditions they deserve.”

You can read the Economic Note here: https://www.iedm.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/economic-note-222026.pdf

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