China saw a surge in registered nurses last year, reaching four nurses per 1,000 people, according to data released by the National Health Commission on Saturday.

The total number of registered nurses in China reached 5.63 million by the end of 2023, a rise of about 430,000 from 2022.

Increasingly, the country's nurses are more educated, with more than 80 percent of nurses holding a college degree or higher at the end of 2023, up from 70 percent at the end of 2020, officials said at a press conference the day before International Nurses Day.

Officials also stressed that regions across the country have introduced more training for nurses in shortage specialties such as geriatrics, pediatrics, intensive care and infectious diseases, and that continued policies and regulations to support nursing services can be expected.