Beijing, May 13 (IANS): China is witnessing a big demand for male nurses who presently represent less than one percent of the total nursing population.

These male nurses mainly work in intensive care unit (ICU), emergency medicine department, cardiovascular department and mental disease unit, reported Xinhua.

According to the Chinese Nursing Association (CNA), the male nurses are in huge demand in the nation's job market.

Male nurses are expected to be very popular in the future job market, considering their small number and huge demand, said Cheng Gen, a CNA member in charge of male nurse related work.

Such a population is swelling rapidly, especially in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai, Cheng said.

Among the approximately 60,000 registered nurses in Beijing, more than 2,000 are men, accounting for three percent, a share higher than the national average.

In the past, men were reluctant to stay a nurse and many quit their jobs due to low-pay and limited career development.

But Cheng attributed the rapid rise in male nurse population to significant improvement of remunerations for nurses.

According to the country's National Health and Family Planning Commission, nurses' working conditions and remunerations have improved in recent years.

As per official statistics, the number of registered nurses in China stood at nearly 2.5 million in 2012.