The shortage of nurses in Italy is a serious emergency for the National Health Service (NHS), jeopardizing access to care, especially for the elderly and vulnerable. According to the GIMBE Foundation, in 2022, there were 302,841 nurses in Italy, including 268,013 employed by the SSN and 34,828 employed in equivalent facilities. The ratio is 5.13 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants, with large differences between regions: 3.83 in Campania, compared with 7.01 in Liguria. Internationally, Italy records 6.5 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants, a figure well below the OECD average of 9.8 and the EU average of 9. Worse than us are only Spain (6.2), Poland (5.7), Hungary (5.5), Latvia (4.2) and Greece (3.9). The nurse-to-doctor ratio also shows an imbalance: 1.5 in Italy, compared to the OECD average of 2.7. In addition, more than 60,000 nurses work as freelancers or in service cooperatives, making them a structural component of the NHS.