PMI Numbers–PMP and other Certifications

BY: Collin Quiring

A few years ago, I posted some information about PMI (Project Management Institute) membership and PMP (Project Management Professional) certifications and other data that they routinely share.  (That post is here: http://dld.bz/dnY2z )

I was asked if I could update the data and so I did.  The updated information is below.  There is some new data now with the new certifications – PMI-RMP, PMI-SP, PMI-ACP.  And, they discontinued publishing the number of new members per month in 2013.  And, sadly, for myself, as an OPM3 certification holder, PMI doesn’t publish that number in a clear or obvious way.

As I stated in the previous post, it is always important to me to know if a certification and an organization’s membership are of value in the marketplace.  And one way to know if it is of value is to see if it is increasing, stagnating or decreasing in numbers (which I take as a reference to importance to employers).  It is interesting to me though that there are more PMP certification holders than there are PMI members.  I am not sure what that means.

I do also understand that when a certification becomes so prevalent, it becomes irrelevant.  A lot of organizations think that if they increase their certification numbers, they then get some sort of relevance or benefit in the marketplace.  However, I have seen where a certification is so common that it no longer differentiates individuals as having a particular value or knowledge over another.  I don’t know if the PMP is heading that way or not, it is just something to ponder.

This information comes from PMI directly and the caveat is that the month they published it and the month that is listed below for the data is normally one month late.  That wasn’t purely consistent over the years (sometimes PMP data was a week or two old and CAPM was a month or two old).  So, the months represented below are from the month that PMI published the data.

Here are the numbers that are represented in that chart.

Date	PMPs	Members
Sep-06	206,774	215,367
Oct-06	212,704	219,322
Nov-06	216,200	222,734
Dec-06	221,144	225,432
Jan-07	212,622	230,825
Feb-07	217,519	232,756
Mar-07	223,877	236,871
Apr-07	228,277	238,565
May-07	233,330	241,895
Jun-07	236,996	243,604
Jul-07	242,991	245,175
Aug-07	247,537	245,933
Sep-07	251,782	246,216
Oct-07	256,184	249,860
Nov-07	262,860	251,924
Dec-07	267,367	253,692
Jan-08	273,547	259,172
Feb-08	259,694	260,458
Mar-08	266,146	264,496
Apr-08	272,032	266,747
May-08	278,618	269,458
Jun-08	283,811	271,638
Jul-08	288,838	275,169
Aug-08	295,413	277,221
Sep-08	299,751	280,264
Oct-08	306,706	283,321
Nov-08	311,676	285,209
Dec-08	318,289	287,438
Jan-09	322,250	293,416
Feb-09	327,250	296,377
Mar-09	331,208	302,364
Apr-09	336,051	305,127
May-09	346,053	307,180
Jun-09	359,973	306,980
Jul-09	360,662	306,111
Aug-09	364,542	305,191
Sep-09	364,542	306,180
Oct-09	350,450	308,485
Nov-09	356,419	308,102
Dec-09	361,238	309,715
Jan-10	367,619	314,721
Feb-10	371,014	315,106
Mar-10	375,959	317,962
Apr-10	381,111	317,787
May-10	385,096	317,989
Jun-10	389,726	318,421
Jul-10	393,413	320,388
Aug-10	397,378	323,220
Sep-10	393,413	320,388
Oct-10	397,378	353,220
Nov-10	400,059	327,180
Dec-10	403,220	330,001
Jan-11	409,159	331,697
Feb-11	412,503	334,019
Mar-11	471,475	340,232
Apr-11	420,602	341,906
May-11	423,515	346,730
Jun-11	430,469	349,524
Jul-11	434,839	353,326
Aug-11	437,999	357,770
Sep-11	451,868	362,726
Oct-11	466,163	366,854
Nov-11	464,168	368,349
Dec-11	468,864	370,233
Jan-12	469,051	370,744
Feb-12	467,390	371,575
Mar-12	471,437	377,589
Apr-12	472,799	378,749
May-12	472,102	382,210
Jun-12	477,031	383,118
Jul-12	479,327	386,545
Aug-12	474,948	386,235
Sep-12	484,761	387,199
Oct-12	487,867	388,276
Nov-12	482,015	390,279
Dec-12	494,594	394,851
Jan-13	500,082	395,965
Feb-13	510,434	397,453
Mar-13	546,229	408,465
Apr-13	521,345	411,928
May-13	525,341	418,080
Jun-13	537,413	424,657
Jul-13	545,098	433,470
Aug-13	552,977	435,670
Sep-13	582,224	439,294
Oct-13	583,806	438,681
Nov-13	585,040	438,357
Dec-13	590,416	441,425
Jan-14	593,074	437,573
Feb-14	594,603	439,677
Mar-14	603,216	449,803
Apr-14	605,909	446,959

 

Along with the PMP, the CAPM has been a long term certification and its numbers have continued to grow as well.

The data behind the chart:

Date	CAPM
Sep-06	1,438
Oct-06	1,546
Nov-06	1,611
Dec-06	1,828
Jan-07	1,828
Feb-07	2,102
Mar-07	2,252
Apr-07	2,390
May-07	2,586
Jun-07	2,714
Jul-07	2,872
Aug-07	3,051
Sep-07	3,215
Oct-07	3,366
Nov-07	3,601
Dec-07	3,799
Jan-08	3,988
Feb-08	4,229
Mar-08	4,410
Apr-08	4,695
May-08	4,971
Jun-08	5,196
Jul-08	5,196
Aug-08	5,708
Sep-08	5,892
Oct-08	6,151
Nov-08	6,428
Dec-08	6,729
Jan-09	6,963
Feb-09	7,207
Mar-09	7,455
Apr-09	7,795
May-09	8,139
Jun-09	8,139
Jul-09	9,126
Aug-09	9,412
Sep-09	9,619
Oct-09	9,787
Nov-09	10,003
Dec-09	10,263
Jan-10	10,444
Feb-10	10,678
Mar-10	10,970
Apr-10	11,234
May-10	11,458
Jun-10	11,785
Jul-10	12,111
Aug-10	12,367
Sep-10	12,111
Oct-10	12,367
Nov-10	12,565
Dec-10	12,729
Jan-11	12,925
Feb-11	13,272
Mar-11	13,464
Apr-11	13,678
May-11	13,969
Jun-11	14,197
Jul-11	14,465
Aug-11	14,781
Sep-11	15,129
Oct-11	15,423
Nov-11	15,695
Dec-11	15,938
Jan-12	16,159
Feb-12	16,491
Mar-12	16,687
Apr-12	16,939
May-12	17,268
Jun-12	17,568
Jul-12	17,924
Aug-12	18,227
Sep-12	18,591
Oct-12	18,888
Nov-12	19,201
Dec-12	19,542
Jan-13	19,849
Feb-13	20,157
Mar-13	20,447
Apr-13	20,700
May-13	20,993
Jun-13	21,397
Jul-13	21,915
Aug-13	22,946
Sep-13	23,560
Oct-13	23,699
Nov-13	23,793
Dec-13	23,949
Jan-14	24,196
Feb-14	24,450
Mar-14	24,646
Apr-14	24,789

 

The other certifications that were created in the past few years are outlined here.

The data:

Date	PgMP	PMI-RMP	PMI-SP	PMI-ACP
May-10	421	357	320
Jun-10	436	393	327
Jul-10	447	419	341
Aug-10	460	447	357
Sep-10	447	419	341
Oct-10	460	447	357
Nov-10	478	483	369
Dec-10	492	516	377
Jan-11	502	538	387
Feb-11	511	588	408
Mar-11	521	622	418
Apr-11	530	677	426
May-11	553	741	440
Jun-11	561	486	451
Jul-11	575	826	466
Aug-11	584	884	474
Sep-11	599	943	494
Oct-11	606	983	502
Nov-11	625	1,040	524
Dec-11	637	1,083	544
Jan-12	654	1,119	562
Feb-12	678	1,195	578
Mar-12	728	1,243	589	542
Apr-12	774	1,280	611	549
May-12	771	1,323	632	655
Jun-12	774	1,372	633	758
Jul-12	775	1,423	654	892
Aug-12	787	1,472	672	999
Sep-12	793	1,529	694	1,141
Oct-12	805	1,576	720	1,297
Nov-12	808	1,626	737	1,416
Dec-12	864	1,696	764	1,611
Jan-13	823	1,732	780	1,835
Feb-13	834	1,805	809	2,063
Mar-13	850	1,864	826	2,276
Apr-13	852	1,918	846	2,461
May-13	865	1,969	871	2,635
Jun-13	875	8,033	893	2,858
Jul-13	898	2,116	911	3,056
Aug-13	914	2,222	948	3,249
Sep-13	939	2,334	981	3,468
Oct-13	967	2,519	1,037	3,691
Nov-13	969	2,512	1,033	3,893
Dec-13	977	2,512	1,033	4,132
Jan-14	985	2,507	1,036	4,366
Feb-14	995	2,584	1,090	4,641
Mar-14	1,004	2,617	1,109	4,825
Apr-14	1,014	2,638	1,118	5,008

 

And, although they stopped giving this information, I always found it interesting to determine how many new members were coming in and how many were leaving.  This may or may not be an indicator of the organizational health or relevance but it is a good trend line to watch.  So, here is the monthly “new members” listing from September, 2006, to December, 2012.

 

Once again, the numbers:

Date	New members
Sep-06	4,025
Oct-06	3,225
Nov-06	3,224
Dec-06	4,301
Jan-07	3,330
Feb-07	3,468
Mar-07	5,635
Apr-07	3,776
May-07	3,844
Jun-07	4,232
Jul-07	3,949
Aug-07	4,071
Sep-07	3,909
Oct-07	4,018
Nov-07	4,509
Dec-07	4,767
Jan-08	3,213
Feb-08	3,773
Mar-08	3,797
Apr-08	3,989
May-08	3,613
Jun-08	4,380
Jul-08	4,651
Aug-08	4,358
Sep-08	4,070
Oct-08	4,568
Nov-08	4,500
Dec-08	6,109
Jan-09	4,605
Feb-09	4,305
Mar-09	5,000
Apr-09	6,021
May-09	8,419
Jun-09	13,920
Jul-09	689
Aug-09	2,770
Sep-09	3,100
Oct-09	3,102
Nov-09	3,726
Dec-09	5,403
Jan-10	3,714
Feb-10	3,713
Mar-10	5,344
Apr-10	4,718
May-10	3,985
Jun-10	4,630
Jul-10	3,687
Aug-10	3,965
Sep-10	8,142
Oct-10	9,245
Nov-10	9,719
Dec-10	9,624
Jan-11	8,502
Feb-11	7,803
Mar-11	11,159
Apr-11	9,750
May-11	11,681
Jun-11	11,372
Jul-11	12,309
Aug-11	12,410
Sep-11	12,265
Oct-11	10,681
Nov-11	9,204
Dec-11	10,013
Jan-12	8,672
Feb-12	7,759
Mar-12	11,034
Apr-12	10,485
May-12	13,410
Jun-12	10,742
Jul-12	11,662
Aug-12	9,539
Sep-12	11,013
Oct-12	10,885
Nov-12	10,786
Dec-12	14,562

 

Since they stopped giving new membership information, I went ahead and did some math behind the monthly number of memberships overall to see the overall trendline.  It is great to know the number of new members, but if the number of members leaving is greater than the number of new members, then that might be concerning.  In looking at the data, there must have been some data scrubbing done in October and November 2010 as those two months are wildly out of the normal data distribution.

 

And, the data:

Date	Monthly Change
Sep-06	———
Oct-06	3,955
Nov-06	3,412
Dec-06	2,698
Jan-07	5,393
Feb-07	1,931
Mar-07	4,115
Apr-07	1,694
May-07	3,330
Jun-07	1,709
Jul-07	1,571
Aug-07	758
Sep-07	283
Oct-07	3,644
Nov-07	2,064
Dec-07	1,768
Jan-08	5,480
Feb-08	1,286
Mar-08	4,038
Apr-08	2,251
May-08	2,711
Jun-08	2,180
Jul-08	3,531
Aug-08	2,052
Sep-08	3,043
Oct-08	3,057
Nov-08	1,888
Dec-08	2,229
Jan-09	5,978
Feb-09	2,961
Mar-09	5,987
Apr-09	2,763
May-09	2,053
Jun-09	-200
Jul-09	-869
Aug-09	-920
Sep-09	989
Oct-09	2,305
Nov-09	-383
Dec-09	1,613
Jan-10	5,006
Feb-10	385
Mar-10	2,856
Apr-10	-175
May-10	202
Jun-10	432
Jul-10	1,967
Aug-10	2,832
Sep-10	-2,832
Oct-10	32,832
Nov-10	-26,040
Dec-10	2,821
Jan-11	1,696
Feb-11	2,322
Mar-11	6,213
Apr-11	1,674
May-11	4,824
Jun-11	2,794
Jul-11	3,802
Aug-11	4,444
Sep-11	4,956
Oct-11	4,128
Nov-11	1,495
Dec-11	1,884
Jan-12	511
Feb-12	831
Mar-12	6,014
Apr-12	1,160
May-12	3,461
Jun-12	908
Jul-12	3,427
Aug-12	-310
Sep-12	964
Oct-12	1,077
Nov-12	2,003
Dec-12	4,572
Jan-13	1,114
Feb-13	1,488
Mar-13	11,012
Apr-13	3,463
May-13	6,152
Jun-13	6,577
Jul-13	8,813
Aug-13	2,200
Sep-13	3,624
Oct-13	-613
Nov-13	-324
Dec-13	3,068
Jan-14	-3,852
Feb-14	2,104
Mar-14	10,126
Apr-14	-2,844

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