According to the PMI, there are more than 1,000,000 holders of the internationally recognized PMP credential across 214 territories worldwide.
When coming across this number, it raised my curiosity to know which country has the most PMP-certified professionals. After doing some research, I found out that PMI provides a registry that exhibits the number of active PMP holders by country. The following are the top ten countries:
After extracting the number of PMP holders per nationality, I realized that population is a key factor when comparing countries. For instance, Kuwait and Pakistan have approximately the same number of PMP holders: 2052 in Kuwait and 2187 in Pakistan. However, the population of both countries varies hugely; while Kuwait counts 4 million people, Pakistan’s population is 220 million.
Thus, I extracted the population of each country using Worldometers and calculated the number of active PMP holders per 1 million to get the following result:
The provided data was extracted in the first week of May 2021. You might find a slight difference when referring back to the PMI registry. Following is the table of all countries PMP related statistics:
| Country | Population (million) | PMP Holders | PMP certified per 1 million |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore | 5.8 | 12553 | 2164.3 |
| Canada | 37.7 | 67825 | 1799.1 |
| Qatar* | 2.8 | 3773 | 1347.5 |
| The United States* | 331 | 372726 | 1126.1 |
| United Arab Emirates | 9.9 | 10316 | 1042.0 |
| Hong Kong | 7.4 | 7522 | 1016.5 |
| Trinidad and Tobago* | 1.4 | 1274 | 910.0 |
| Ireland | 4.9 | 3469 | 708.0 |
| Saudi Arabia | 34.8 | 21732 | 624.5 |
| Switzerland | 8.6 | 5050 | 587.2 |
| Bahrain | 1.7 | 878 | 516.5 |
| Kuwait | 4.2 | 2052 | 488.6 |
| Taiwan | 23.8 | 11360 | 477.3 |
| New Zealand | 4.8 | 1934 | 402.9 |
| Australia | 25.5 | 9741 | 382.0 |
| Japan | 126.4 | 38379 | 303.6 |
| Spain | 46.7 | 13227 | 283.2 |
| Sweden | 10.1 | 2456 | 243.2 |
| China | 1439.3 | 342889 | 238.2 |
| Jamaica | 2.9 | 684 | 235.9 |
| Costa Rica | 5 | 1176 | 235.2 |
| South Korea | 51.2 | 10997 | 214.8 |
| Germany | 83.7 | 16032 | 191.5 |
| Uruguay | 3.4 | 635 | 186.8 |
| Portugal | 10.2 | 1804 | 176.9 |
| Oman | 5.1 | 898 | 176.1 |
| Jordan | 10.2 | 1772 | 173.7 |
| Bahamas | 0.4 | 68 | 170.0 |
| Puerto Rico | 2.8 | 475 | 169.6 |
| Cyprus | 1.2 | 202 | 168.3 |
| Mauritius | 1.2 | 197 | 164.2 |
| Denmark | 5.8 | 925 | 159.5 |
| Norway | 5.4 | 860 | 159.3 |
| Italy | 60.4 | 8967 | 148.5 |
| Lithuania | 2.7 | 386 | 143.0 |
| Austria | 9 | 1252 | 139.1 |
| Netherlands | 17.1 | 2364 | 138.2 |
| Belgium | 11.5 | 1571 | 136.6 |
| Croatia | 4.1 | 552 | 134.6 |
| Peru | 32.9 | 4398 | 133.7 |
| Malaysia | 32.3 | 4314 | 133.6 |
| United Kingdom | 67.8 | 8710 | 128.5 |
| Bulgaria | 6.9 | 860 | 124.6 |
| Lebanon | 6.8 | 830 | 122.1 |
| Colombia | 50.8 | 6197 | 122.0 |
| Greece | 10.4 | 1222 | 117.5 |
| France | 65.2 | 7559 | 115.9 |
| Panama | 4.3 | 498 | 115.8 |
| Finland | 5.5 | 602 | 109.5 |
| Hungary | 9.6 | 1032 | 107.5 |
| Latvia | 1.8 | 182 | 101.1 |
| Romania | 19.2 | 1732 | 90.2 |
| Poland | 37.8 | 3175 | 84.0 |
| Brazil | 212.5 | 16957 | 79.8 |
| Armenia | 2.9 | 229 | 79.0 |
| Slovakia | 5.4 | 425 | 78.7 |
| Israel | 8.6 | 656 | 76.3 |
| Chile | 19.1 | 1371 | 71.8 |
| Czech Republic | 10.7 | 697 | 65.1 |
| South Africa | 59.3 | 3751 | 63.3 |
| Egypt | 102.3 | 6222 | 60.8 |
| Slovenia | 2 | 120 | 60.0 |
| Ecuador | 17.6 | 1047 | 59.5 |
| Botswana | 2.3 | 118 | 51.3 |
| Malta | 0.4 | 20 | 50.0 |
| Serbia | 8.7 | 410 | 47.1 |
| North Macedonia | 2 | 88 | 44.0 |
| Turkey | 84.3 | 3607 | 42.8 |
| Mexico | 128.9 | 5472 | 42.5 |
| Sri Lanka | 21.4 | 860 | 40.2 |
| Argentina | 45.2 | 1593 | 35.2 |
| India | 1380 | 47073 | 34.1 |
| Dominican Republic | 10.8 | 349 | 32.3 |
| Ghana | 31 | 958 | 30.9 |
| Albania | 2.8 | 86 | 30.7 |
| Azerbaijan | 10.1 | 307 | 30.4 |
| Georgia | 4 | 113 | 28.3 |
| Namibia | 2.5 | 66 | 26.4 |
| Tunisia | 11.7 | 308 | 26.3 |
| Estonia | 1.3 | 33 | 25.4 |
| Palestine | 5.1 | 128 | 25.1 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3.2 | 69 | 21.6 |
| Zimbabwe | 14.8 | 304 | 20.5 |
| Morocco | 36.9 | 724 | 19.6 |
| Mongolia | 3.2 | 62 | 19.4 |
| Nigeria | 206.1 | 3800 | 18.4 |
| El Salvador | 6.4 | 116 | 18.1 |
| Kazakhstan | 18.7 | 325 | 17.4 |
| Montenegro | 0.6 | 10 | 16.7 |
| Guatemala | 17.9 | 297 | 16.6 |
| Ukraine | 43.7 | 697 | 15.9 |
| Philippines | 109.5 | 1720 | 15.7 |
| Vietnam | 97.3 | 1448 | 14.9 |
| Belarus | 9.4 | 128 | 13.6 |
| Cameroon | 26.5 | 346 | 13.1 |
| Senegal | 16.7 | 213 | 12.8 |
| Russia | 145.9 | 1798 | 12.3 |
| Kenya | 53.7 | 649 | 12.1 |
| Bolivia | 11.6 | 140 | 12.1 |
| Iran | 84 | 1002 | 11.9 |
| Nicaragua | 6.6 | 73 | 11.1 |
| Thailand | 69.7 | 747 | 10.7 |
| Sudan | 43.8 | 455 | 10.4 |
| Pakistan | 220.8 | 2187 | 9.9 |
| Moldova | 4 | 38 | 9.5 |
| Côte d’Ivoire | 26.3 | 205 | 7.8 |
| Iraq | 40.2 | 306 | 7.6 |
| Paraguay | 7.1 | 54 | 7.6 |
| Rwanda | 12.9 | 98 | 7.6 |
| Comoros | 0.8 | 6 | 7.5 |
| Honduras | 9.9 | 71 | 7.2 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 1.4 | 9 | 6.4 |
| Libya | 6.8 | 41 | 6.0 |
| Cape Verde | 0.5 | 3 | 6.0 |
| Uganda | 45.7 | 256 | 5.6 |
| Venezuela | 28.4 | 152 | 5.4 |
| Algeria | 43.8 | 183 | 4.2 |
| Indonesia | 273.5 | 1126 | 4.1 |
| Gabon | 2.2 | 9 | 4.1 |
| Myanmar | 54.4 | 203 | 3.7 |
| Afghanistan | 38.9 | 141 | 3.6 |
| Djibouti | 0.9 | 3 | 3.3 |
| Bangladesh | 164.6 | 460 | 2.8 |
| Yemen | 29.8 | 83 | 2.8 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 6.5 | 18 | 2.8 |
| Zambia | 18.3 | 48 | 2.6 |
| Congo | 5.5 | 14 | 2.5 |
| Benin | 12.1 | 29 | 2.4 |
| Tanzania | 59.7 | 100 | 1.7 |
| Cambodia | 16.7 | 24 | 1.4 |
| Liberia | 5 | 7 | 1.4 |
| Angola | 32.8 | 42 | 1.3 |
| Sierra Leone | 7.9 | 10 | 1.3 |
| Gambia | 2.4 | 3 | 1.3 |
| Mozambique | 31.2 | 31 | 1.0 |
| Haiti | 11.4 | 11 | 1.0 |
| Burkina Faso | 20.9 | 20 | 1.0 |
| Malawi | 19.1 | 18 | 0.9 |
| Somalia | 15.9 | 14 | 0.9 |
| Togo | 8.2 | 7 | 0.9 |
| Ethiopia | 114.9 | 90 | 0.8 |
| Nepal | 29.1 | 21 | 0.7 |
| Papua New Guinea | 8.9 | 6 | 0.7 |
| Uzbekistan | 33.4 | 20 | 0.6 |
| Mali | 20.2 | 12 | 0.6 |
| Syria | 17.5 | 10 | 0.6 |
| Chad | 16.4 | 9 | 0.5 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 1.9 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Mauritania | 4.6 | 2 | 0.4 |
| Central African Republic | 4.8 | 2 | 0.4 |
| Niger | 24.2 | 5 | 0.2 |
| South Sudan | 11.1 | 2 | 0.2 |
| Turkmenistan | 6 | 1 | 0.2 |
| DR Congo | 89.5 | 14 | 0.2 |
| Laos | 7.2 | 1 | 0.1 |
| Tajikistan | 9.5 | 1 | 0.1 |
| North Korea | 25.7 | 2 | 0.1 |
| Madagascar | 27.6 | 2 | 0.1 |
| Burundi | 11.9 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Cuba | 11.3 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Eritrea | 3.5 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Guinea | 13.1 | 5 | 0.4 |
* PS: Data provided by the PMI registry concerning Qatar, the United States, and Trinidad and Tobago cover the total number of PMI’s certifications holders.