Description of figure WK.5 - Source data: Mental health workforce tables (1.4MB XLS)
Remoteness area
Three-quarters of FTE mental health nurses (76.2%) were employed in Major cities in 2017 (71.8% of the population lived in Major cities in 2017). Major cities had the highest rate of FTE mental health nurses (91.0 FTE per 100,000 population), followed by Inner regional (84.3), Remote (56.9), Outer regional (52.7) and Very remote (36.3) areas (Figure WK.6). This distribution was different from the overall nursing workforce, with the highest rate of FTE nurses found in Very Remote areas (1,339.8 per 100,000 population), followed by Remote (1,281.6), Major Cities (1,164.9), Inner Regional (1,130.5) and Outer Regional (1,085.0) areas.