Objective  To describe the status of staff turnover among health inspection and family planning agencies in China.

  Methods  Data on the characteristics of employees and agencies from 2012 through 2014 were extracted through the National Health Inspection Information System. The status of employee turnover was presented by subgroups, while the reasons for the employee’s turnover were presented by numbers and proportions.

  Results  The average annual rate of staff outflow was 4.43% and higher than that (2.59%) of staff inflow for health inspection and family planning agencies at various administration levels across China during the 3-year period. For the staff aged 35 – 45 years, the average annual outflow rate was higher than the average annual inflow rate (3.60% vs. 1.69%). We observed a higher average annual inflow rate (3.79%) among the staff with the education of college and above and a higher average annual outflow rate (6.05%) among the staff with the education of secondary technical school or vocational school. The staff in the agencies at county level showed a slightly lower average annual inflow rate than those in the agencies at province level (2.63% vs. 2.73%); however, the staff in the agencies at county level had a higher average annual outflow rate than the staff in agencies at province level and at municipality level (4.68% vs. 3.73% and 3.57%).

  Conclusion  Between 2012 and 2014, the staff outflow was generally higher than the staff inflow, although the education background for the recruited staff was relatively higher, for health inspection and family planning agencies at different administration levels across China.