midwife
Snapshot
Become a midwife and play a vital role in one of life’s most significant moments. Midwives provide compassionate care and support to women throughout pregnancy, labour, and the postpartum period, ensuring healthy births and thriving families.
As a midwife, your days are focused on providing holistic care to women and their families. You'll combine clinical skills with emotional support, guiding individuals through the journey of pregnancy and childbirth. This involves monitoring health, offering advice on wellbeing and preparation, and assisting in births, often in a supportive and empowering environment. You’ll be a key point of contact, assessing situations, identifying potential complications, and ensuring access to appropriate medical care when needed.
- • Providing comprehensive care and advice during pregnancy, labour, and postpartum.
- • Conducting births and providing immediate care for newborns.
- • Monitoring the health of both mother and child, identifying and addressing potential complications.
Where this occupation is in demand
Reported labour shortages and surpluses, by year. Published for occupation groups, not for individual job titles.
Deeper colour: reported the same way in more consecutive years.
Figures cover Health professionals — 68 jobs including this one.
In shortage: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Greece and 3 more.
Longest-running shortage: Poland, 3 years.
Where it is regulated, your qualification would need formal recognition before you could practise.
Select a place on the map to see its figures.
About this source›
Source: ELA/EURES labour shortages and surpluses. Readings are published at occupation-group level, and cover Europe. Editions differ in annex layout and country coverage, so a change between years does not always mean the labour market changed. Countries in grey were not reported, which is not the same as being in balance.
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Could midwife fit you?
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Do you enjoy tasks that require Integrity?
Do you enjoy tasks that require Concern for Others?
Future Outlook for midwife
The outlook for midwife is exceptionally stable. While AI tools will assist with daily tasks, the core of this role relies on human judgment, resulting in a high resilience score of 82%.
How are these scores calculated?
The Resilience Score (0–100) estimates how structurally protected this occupation is from automation and AI disruption, based on task-level analysis. Higher scores mean more human-judgment-intensive tasks. AI Exposure shows the estimated percentage of task hours that current AI capabilities could affect. These are model-derived structural indicators, not predictions about individual job security.
How could midwife change as AI adoption grows?
Human judgement, trust, and context remain strong protectors for this role.
Illustrative scenario based on task automatability — not a forecast. Values are rounded the further ahead you look.
How could midwife change as AI adoption grows?
Human judgement, trust, and context remain strong protectors for this role.
Illustrative scenario based on task automatability — not a forecast. Values are rounded the further ahead you look.
How AI may change this role
Deterministic, model-based interpretation of current role signals — not a guarantee of replacement.
What still depends on people
- contribute to continuity of health care
- provide pre-natal care
- empathise with the woman's family during and after pregnancy
Where AI may become a co-pilot
- use e-health and mobile health technologies
- examine the new-born infant
- monitor pregnancy
Tasks most exposed to automation
- manage healthcare users' data
Vital Signs & AI Vectors
AI Exposure Vectors
0-100%Exposure to content generation, creative augmentation, and large language model tools
Exposure to AI-assisted analysis, pattern recognition, and predictive modelling tasks
Exposure to physical automation, robotics, and sensor-driven task displacement
Exposure to workflow automation, decision-support software, and process digitisation
Technical Details
NexFuture v3.0 estimates automation exposure natively from ESCO essential-skill groups, weighted by skill mass and calibrated against expert anchors. Scores are probabilistic estimates, not guarantees. See the NexFuture Methodology White Paper for full details.
Measures automation exposure. It does not measure pay, demand, or how many jobs exist near you.
What people in this role usually do
Healthcare & Human Services
A typical day as a midwife
09 09:00 · Morning carry out treatment prescribed by doctors
10 10:30 · Mid-morning conduct spontaneous child deliveries
12 12:00 · Midday provide care for the mother during labour
14 14:00 · Afternoon provide information on the effects of childbirth on sexuality
15 15:30 · Late afternoon provide pregnancy termination care
17 17:00 · Wrap-up support informed consent
Task order is illustrative. Individual days vary.
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anaesthetics
Anaesthetics is a medical specialty mentioned in the EU Directive 2005/36/EC.
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analgesics
The types of medication used to relief pain in various medical cases.
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dietetics
The human nutrition and dietary modification for optimising health in clinical or other environments. The role of nutrition in promoting health and preventing illness across the life spectrum.
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embryology
The normal development of the embryo, the aetiology of developmental anomalies such as genetic aspects and organogenesis and the natural history of abnormalities diagnosed before birth.
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microbiology-bacteriology
Microbiology-Bacteriology is a medical specialty mentioned in the EU Directive 2005/36/EC.
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neonatology
The branch of paediatric medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of the new-born.
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inform policy makers on health-related challenges
Provide useful information related to health care professions to ensure policy decisions are made in the benefit of communities.
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advise on family planning
Provide advice on the use of birth control and methods of contraception available, on sexual education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted diseases, pre-conception counselling and fertility management.
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advise on pregnancy
Counsel patients on normal changes occurring in pregnancy, providing advice on nutrition, drug effects and other lifestyle changes.
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assess the course of breast-feeding period
Evaluate and monitor the breast-feeding activity of a mother to her newly born child.
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advise on pregnancies at risk
Identify and provide advice on the early signs of risk pregnancies.
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support informed consent
Make sure patients and their families are fully informed about the risks and benefits of proposed treatments or procedures so they can give informed consent, engaging patients and their families in the process of their care and treatment.
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carry out treatment prescribed by doctors
Ensure the treatment prescribed by the doctor is being followed by the patient and answer any related questions.
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provide postnatal care
Provide care to the mother and the new-born child following birth, ensuring that the new-born and the mother are healthy and that the mother is capable of taking care of her new-born.
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provide care for the mother during labour
Actively manage women in labour, prescribing and administer pain relief medication as needed and providing emotional support and comfort for the mother.
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take emergency measures in pregnancy
Perform the manual removal of placenta, and the manual examination of the uterus in emergency cases, when the doctor is not present.
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assist on pregnancy abnormality
Support the mother in case of abnormality signs during the pregnancy period and call the doctor in emergency cases.
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conduct spontaneous child deliveries
Carry out spontaneous child delivery, managing the stress related to the event and all the risks and complications that may arise, performing operations such as episiotomies and breech deliveries, where required.
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follow clinical guidelines
Follow agreed protocols and guidelines in support of healthcare practice which are provided by healthcare institutions, professional associations, or authorities and also scientific organisations.
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adhere to organisational guidelines
Adhere to organisational or department specific standards and guidelines. Understand the motives of the organisation and the common agreements and act accordingly.
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promote inclusion
Promote and respect diversity, and advocate for equal treatment of genders, ethnicities and minority groups in organisations in order to prevent discrimination and ensure inclusion and a positive environment.
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comply with quality standards related to healthcare practice
Apply quality standards related to risk management, safety procedures, patients feedback, screening and medical devices in daily practice, as they are recognized by the national professional associations and authorities.
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comply with legislation related to health care
Comply with the regional and national health legislation which regulates relations between suppliers, payers, vendors of the healthcare industry and patients, and the delivery of healthcare services.
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ensure safety of healthcare users
Make sure that healthcare users are being treated professionally, effectively and safe from harm, adapting techniques and procedures according to the person's needs, abilities or the prevailing conditions.
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educate on the prevention of illness
Offer evidence-based advice on how to avoid ill health, educate and advise individuals and their carers on how to prevent ill health and/or be able to advise how to improve their environment and health conditions. Provide advice on the identification of risks leading to ill health and help to increase the patients' resilience by targeting prevention and early intervention strategies.
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provide health education
Provide evidence based strategies to promote healthy living, disease prevention and management.
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provide pre-natal care
Monitor the normal progression of pregnancy and development of foetus by prescribing regular check-ups for prevention, detection and treatment of health problems throughout the course of the pregnancy.
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prescribe medication
Prescribe medications, when indicated, for therapeutic effectiveness, appropriate to the client`s needs and in accordance with evidence-based practice, national and practice protocols and within scope of practice.
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work in a multicultural environment in health care
Interact, relate and communicate with individuals from a variety of different cultures, when working in a healthcare environment.
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work in multidisciplinary health teams
Participate in the delivery of multidisciplinary health care, and understand the rules and competences of other healthcare related professions.
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respond to changing situations in health care
Cope with pressure and respond appropriately and in time to unexpected and rapidly changing situations in healthcare.
Skill DNA
Work personality traits and values that define this role
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Where does midwife fit?
Similarity scores based on skill overlap from ESCO data.
Frequently asked questions
- What skills are particularly important for a midwife?
- Beyond clinical knowledge, midwives need strong communication and interpersonal skills to build trust and provide emotional support. Attention to detail, the ability to remain calm under pressure, and excellent problem-solving skills are also crucial, as is a commitment to promoting women's choices and wellbeing.
- How does the role of a midwife differ from that of an obstetrician?
- Midwives focus on supporting natural childbirth and providing care for healthy pregnancies. Obstetricians are medical doctors who specialize in pregnancy and childbirth and are typically involved in managing high-risk pregnancies or complications requiring medical intervention.
- What is the typical work arrangement for midwives?
- Midwives are primarily employed by hospitals, clinics, or healthcare organizations. While some midwives may choose to work independently, most positions are employee-based.
- Midwife — is there a shortage in Europe?
- Yes. In the 2025 ELA/EURES edition, a shortage was reported in 7 of the 8 European countries that assessed this occupation group: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Greece and 3 more. Poland has reported one for 3 consecutive years. These assessments are published per occupation group rather than per job title.
- Midwife — what does it pay in the United States?
- $64,030 a year at the median, as of 2025-05. State medians run from $35,270 to $113,640. Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is a United States figure and not a projection for Europe.
- Midwife — is it a regulated profession?
- It is listed as a regulated profession in 31 European countries: Lithuania, Estonia, Italy, Sweden and 27 more. The lowest qualification level required among them is EQF 4. Where a profession is regulated, a qualification earned elsewhere has to be formally recognised before you can practise. Source: EU Regulated Professions Database.