Fact-checked against peer-reviewed nursing workforce research published in the Journal of Education and Health Promotion, BMC Nursing, and the International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development. Last verified August 2026.

In 2018, a landmark study of tertiary hospitals in Riyadh found that 94% of nurses intended to leave their current hospital. Seven years and one Vision 2030 healthcare transformation later, a 2025 study of 397 nurses across seven Madina hospitals still found 53.7% intended to leave, with 18.4% seriously considering it — and the reported turnover rate among Saudi nurses specifically sits at 41%, nearly triple the roughly 14–17.6% rate reported in the United States over the same period.

That gap hasn’t closed because the drivers behind it are structural, not incidental: expatriate nurses face discrimination, cultural isolation, and family separation on top of the workload and compensation pressures every nurse faces, while newly trained Saudi nationals — the group Vision 2030 most needs to retain — report even higher turnover intention than their non-Saudi colleagues.

Below are the 20 nurse retention statistics for Saudi Arabia that matter most in 2026, drawn directly from peer-reviewed cross-sectional studies conducted in Saudi hospitals, not secondary industry summaries.

Nurse Retention Statistics Saudi Arabia at a Glance

  1. 94% — nurses intending to leave their current hospital, the landmark 2018 Kaddourah et al. baseline study of Riyadh tertiary hospitals

  2. 53.7% — nurses intending to turnover in a 2025 study of 397 nurses across seven Madina hospitals, using a validated retention questionnaire.

  3. 18.4% — the subset seriously intending to leave, agreeing or strongly agreeing with all four turnover-intention items

  4. 41% — reported turnover rate among Saudi nurses specifically, compared to roughly 14% in the United States

  5. 60.5% — share of surveyed nurses under age 30, meaning most of the workforce sampled is early-career and statistically more turnover-prone

  6. 63.5% — non-Saudi (expatriate) nurses among total turnover-intention respondents, versus 76.4% among those seriously intending to leave

  7. 88.8% — non-Saudi nurses citing cultural differences as a turnover factor, versus just 10.7% of Saudi nurses — the single largest nationality gap measured

  8. 61.0% — non-Saudi nurses citing discrimination as a turnover factor, versus 7.1% of Saudi nurses

  9. 73.9% — nurses earning under 5,000 SR/month among those seriously intending to leave, versus 12.6% among those not seriously intending to leave

  10. 0.426 — the standardized regression coefficient linking work-life balance to nurse retention in a 2025 Al-Khobar study, explaining 23.4% of retention variance on its own.

Nurse Retention Statistics Saudi Arabia: The Turnover Baseline

  1. The defining baseline study remains Kaddourah et al. (2018): across tertiary care hospitals in Riyadh, 54.7% of nurses reported dissatisfaction with their work life, and a striking 94% expressed intention to leave their current hospital — a figure still cited as the reference point for how severe Saudi nursing turnover intention can run.

  2. A more recent 2025 cross-sectional study of 397 nurses across seven government and private hospitals in Madina found intention-to-leave at 53.7% using a validated four-item Employee Retention Questionnaire with strong internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha 0.88).

  3. Within that 2025 sample, 22.9% planned to leave within six months, 37.8% within a year, and 29.2% within five years — meaning roughly 60% of nurses intending to leave expected to do so within twelve months, a near-term risk window employers can act on directly.

  4. The turnover rate among Saudi nurses specifically is reported at 41%, compared to approximately 14% in the United States over a comparable period — a nearly threefold gap that researchers attribute to the compounding effect of workload, compensation, and — for the majority expatriate workforce — cultural and family-separation pressures absent in most other national comparisons.

Nurse Retention Statistics Saudi Arabia: The Nationality Divide

  1. Non-Saudi (expatriate) nurses made up 63.5% of all nurses expressing turnover intention, rising to 76.4% among those not seriously intending to leave and jumping further to a disproportionate share among those seriously intending to leave — nationality was a statistically significant predictor of serious turnover intention (χ² = 5.68, p = 0.017).

  2. Non-Arab race was an even stronger predictor: 87.7% of nurses seriously intending to leave were non-Arab, versus 71.6% among those not seriously intending to leave (χ² = 8.1, p = 0.004) — race and ethnicity carried more statistical weight than nationality alone.

  3. Cultural differences were cited by 88.8% of non-Saudi nurses as a turnover factor, versus just 10.7% of Saudi nurses (χ² = 28.4, p < 0.001) — the single largest measured gap in the entire study, and a clear signal that cultural integration support, not just pay, is a distinct lever for the expatriate majority.

  4. Discrimination based on nationality or race was cited by 61.0% of non-Saudi nurses, compared to only 7.1% of Saudi nurses (χ² = 31.4, p < 0.001) — the second-largest nationality gap measured, and one with direct implications for how workplace culture and management training should be designed.

  5. Spousal and family-separation factors were cited by 82.7% of non-Saudi nurses versus 42.9% of Saudi nurses (χ² = 22.6, p < 0.001), and workplace-distance-from-family concerns showed a similar gap (49.5% versus 28.6%) — both point to family policy (dependent visas, housing near family, home leave frequency) as an underused retention lever specific to the expatriate workforce.

  6. Excess workload was, counterintuitively, cited more by Saudi nurses (72.6%) than non-Saudi nurses (27.8%) (χ² = 12.92, p = 0.03) — one of the few factors where Saudi nationals reported more strain than expatriates, suggesting Saudi nurses may be assigned disproportionate workload or supervisory responsibility.

Nurse Retention Statistics Saudi Arabia: Compensation as a Predictor

  1. Salary was a statistically significant predictor of serious turnover intention: 73.9% of nurses seriously intending to leave earned under 5,000 SR/month, compared to just 12.6% of those not seriously intending to leave (χ² = 3.4, p = 0.03).

  2. Shorter nursing experience compounded the salary effect: 56.8% of nurses not seriously intending to leave had under 5 years of RN experience, versus 43.8% of those seriously intending to leave — meaning tenure, not just pay, independently predicted retention risk.

  3. Unclear retirement plans were cited by 66.8% of non-Saudi nurses versus 21.4% of Saudi nurses (χ² = 4.96, p = 0.03) — a benefits-structure gap distinct from base salary that specifically affects long-term expatriate retention planning.

  4. A separate 2025 Al-Khobar study found work-life balance alone explained 23.4% of the variance in nurse retention, with a standardized coefficient of 0.426 (p < 0.001) — one of the strongest single-factor predictors identified in recent Saudi-specific research, and notably independent of salary.

Nurse Retention Statistics Saudi Arabia: Leadership and Management

  1. Poor management or dissatisfaction with management was cited by 58.5% of non-Saudi nurses versus 28.6% of Saudi nurses (χ² = 7.1, p = 0.03) — a substantial gap suggesting management style and supervisory relationships land differently across the two groups.

  2. Poor supervisor communication and lack of appreciation was cited by 70.9% of non-Saudi nurses versus 32.1% of Saudi nurses (χ² = 5.75, p = 0.04) — reinforcing that management-quality interventions may need to be nationality-aware to be effective, not one-size-fits-all.

  3. Transformational leadership is repeatedly identified across multiple Saudi-specific studies as a significant retention lever, with leadership development programs shown to improve job satisfaction and reduce turnover intention specifically during high-stress periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

  4. Critical care nursing was independently identified as a predictor of serious turnover intention in the 2025 Madina study, alongside non-Saudi nationality, lower salary, and shorter RN experience — meaning unit-level targeting (similar to the emergency/maternity pattern found in UAE research) also applies in Saudi Arabia. [web:193]

Nurse Retention Statistics Saudi Arabia: What Vision 2030 Changes

  1. Vision 2030’s workforce nationalization goals place added pressure on retention specifically among Saudi nationals, since the government strategy depends on growing the domestic nursing workforce even as younger Saudi nurses report retention challenges of their own — recent research specifically flags younger nurses, single nurses, and Saudi nationals as reporting notably higher turnover intention than some other cohorts, complicating the nationalization goal rather than simplifying it.

  2. High expatriate turnover is described in recent Saudi nursing literature as a form of “brain drain,” since skilled, experienced international nurses leaving the Kingdom represent a direct loss of clinical capacity that Saudi-national hiring alone cannot immediately replace, given the multi-year training pipeline required to build equivalent experience domestically.

Why Nurse Retention Statistics in Saudi Arabia Vary So Widely

A 94% turnover-intention figure from 2018 and a 53.7% figure from 2025 aren’t necessarily showing straightforward improvement — they’re measuring somewhat different things:

  • Sample and hospital type matter. The 2018 baseline sampled Riyadh tertiary hospitals specifically; the 2025 study sampled seven hospitals across government and private sectors in Madina — different cities, different hospital mixes, and different survey instruments.

  • “Turnover intention” and “seriously intending to leave” are distinct measures within the same study. The 2025 research separately reports 53.7% general intention versus 18.4% who agreed or strongly agreed with every item on the scale — collapsing these into one number understates how much more urgent the smaller, seriously-intending group’s risk actually is.

  • Nationality-stratified data reveals two very different underlying populations. Reporting a single national turnover-intention number obscures the fact that Saudi and non-Saudi nurses cite almost entirely different reasons for wanting to leave — cultural and family factors dominate for expatriates, while workload and career-advancement factors weigh more heavily for Saudi nationals.

  • The reported 41% turnover rate is a distinct metric from turnover intention — it reflects nurses who actually left, gathered through different research than the intention surveys, and the two shouldn’t be quoted interchangeably even though both describe the same underlying retention crisis.

What Actually Improves Retention, According to the Evidence

  • Address compensation and retirement-plan clarity together, not separately. Low salary was the strongest individual-level predictor of serious turnover intention, but unclear retirement plans specifically affected non-Saudi nurses at three times the rate of Saudi nurses — meaning benefits communication, not only base pay, needs fixing.

  • Build nationality-aware, not nationality-blind, interventions. Because cultural differences, discrimination, and family-separation factors show some of the largest statistical gaps in the entire dataset, a single retention program applied uniformly across Saudi and expatriate staff will likely underperform compared to one that explicitly addresses each group’s distinct top concerns.

  • Invest in transformational leadership training for nurse managers specifically. Multiple independent studies identify supportive, transparent leadership as a consistent retention lever, and the effect appears strong enough to matter even without changes to pay or staffing levels.

  • Target work-life integration as its own strategic priority. With a standalone regression coefficient of 0.426 explaining 23.4% of retention variance, work-life balance interventions — flexible scheduling, workload audits, compressed workweeks — offer a large, evidence-backed return independent of compensation reform.

  • Treat critical care and other high-acuity units as elevated retention risk, similar to the emergency and maternity unit findings documented in neighboring UAE research, rather than assuming turnover risk is evenly distributed across a hospital.

Employer-led staffing reform, transformational leadership development, and licensed clinical mental health support remain the primary tools for addressing the workload, cultural-adjustment, and burnout pressures driving Saudi nurse turnover. Some facilities are also exploring complementary, non-clinical wellbeing resources to supplement licensed care — remote sessions such as Ne Ste Al Mind Reprogramming, for example, as one additional layer nurses can access alongside employer-provided support, not instead of it. Ne Ste Al does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical or psychiatric condition, and individual results vary; nurses experiencing burnout, compassion fatigue, or clinical symptoms should consult a licensed healthcare provider first.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the actual nurse turnover rate in Saudi Arabia?

Research reports a turnover rate of 41% among Saudi nurses specifically, compared to roughly 14% in the United States. Turnover intention — a related but distinct measure of nurses’ desire to leave, not confirmed departures — has been recorded at 94% in a 2018 Riyadh baseline study and 53.7% in a more recent 2025 Madina study.

Why do turnover statistics for Saudi Arabia vary so much between studies?

Different studies sample different cities, hospital types (government versus private), and time periods, and some measure general turnover intention while others isolate a smaller “seriously intending to leave” subgroup. The 2025 Madina study, for example, found 53.7% overall intention but only 18.4% seriously intending to leave — both numbers are accurate but describe different risk levels.

Do Saudi and expatriate nurses leave for the same reasons?

No. Expatriate (non-Saudi) nurses cite cultural differences (88.8%), discrimination (61.0%), and spousal or family-separation factors (82.7%) at far higher rates than Saudi nurses. Saudi nurses, by contrast, report excess workload (72.6%) at a notably higher rate than their non-Saudi colleagues — suggesting the two groups need substantially different retention interventions.

What role does salary play in Saudi nurse retention?

Salary is a statistically significant predictor of serious turnover intention: 73.9% of nurses seriously intending to leave earned under 5,000 SR per month, compared to just 12.6% of those not seriously considering leaving. However, work-life balance alone explained 23.4% of retention variance independent of pay, indicating compensation is one lever among several, not the only one.

Is Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 improving nurse retention?

The evidence is mixed. Vision 2030’s nursing nationalization goals add pressure to retain Saudi nationals specifically, but recent research finds younger Saudi nurses report notably high turnover intention themselves, and the broader turnover-intention trend from 2018 to 2025 shows improvement in magnitude (94% to 53.7%) without resolving the underlying structural drivers.

Related

Nurse Shortage Statistics UAE 2026
Nurse Retention Statistics UAE 2026

Sources

Share this story

No obligation — a clear answer by Day 10, or we extend the evaluation until day 90.

Ne Ste Al Team

You were never meant to just manage symptoms. The Ne Ste Al Mind Reprogramming practice built for people who are ready to stop surviving and start thriving.

Ready to Move From Understanding to Action?

If you're evaluating ways to reduce nurse burnout and turnover, see how Ne Ste AI uses Frequency Therapy to help nurses shift toward the states they need.

Prefer to test it with your own nurses?

Related Posts