Blog The Latest ISO Survey – Some Headlines

Every year the ISO releases figures from the IAF (International Accreditation Forum) members on the numbers of organizations certified to the management system standards worldwide. The figures are interesting because they show the trends in certifications around the world, and also by industry sector. In this article, we’ll highlight a few points that stand out from the figures and hopefully give you some perspective on ISO certification worldwide. The full survey is freely available on the ISO website. The latest results of the Survey are for 2022 which show an estimation of the number of valid certificates as of 31 December 2022.

Growth Overall

At the headline level, it was good year for the most well-known management system certifications, with numbers of certificates growing at between twelve (ISO9001) and thirty-three percent (ISO 50000) overall as shown in the table below.

But this overall growth masks significant variations in particular countries and for specific standards; for example, in Australia and the USA, ISO9001 certifications actually went down, with major growth in China making up the vast majority of the shortfall.

A Deeper Dive

Let’s look in more detail across the above standards in a small selection of countries, to give you an idea of the numbers involved, and the ongoing appetite for each.

The first thing that’s obvious from the above table is the domination of China; for the “Triple Badge” standards (ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO45001) China makes up over half of the worldwide total. The second is probably the relatively immature market in the USA, given the size of its economy. It’s no surprise that the quality management standard, ISO9001 is by far the most popular, with over a million certificates issued worldwide. By contrast, the ISO50001 energy standard has yet to become established, although in the West, Germany is leading the way with this.

Looking beyond the pure numbers of certificates, to the growth rate in certifications over the last year, a varied picture emerges.

Overall, China is the power behind the growth in certificates across the board, but it’s a much more mixed bag in the other countries. The UK, Germany and Australia show a general increase, particularly in ISO27001, but growth in ISO certifications may be stalling in the USA, with ISO50001 the only bright spot, albeit with very small numbers.

Which sectors show the most interest?

The ISO survey gives a breakdown of the number of certificates by sector, and this generally shows few surprises. For example, the top five sectors for the ISO9001 quality standard are:

1. Basic metal & fabricated metal products
2. Wholesale & retail trade, repairs of motor vehicles, motorcycles & personal & household goods
3. Electrical and optical equipment
4. Construction
5. Machinery and equipment

And for the ISO27001 information security standard the list is:

1. Information technology
2. Transport, storage and communication
3. Other Services
4. Financial intermediation, real estate, renting
5. Electrical and optical equipment

…with the first on the list (Information technology) numbering more than the rest of the list combined.

What about other standards?

There are a couple of other standards we commonly come across, but which we haven’t yet mentioned. These are the ISO22301 business continuity standard, and ISO/IEC 20000, which deals with IT service management.

The number of certificates issued for ISO22301 stands at a slightly disappointing 3,200, with ISO20000 faring better at 27,009. The UK leads the way for ISO22301 with more certificates (455) than the next two largest, India and China, combined. Interestingly, the top five sector list certifying to ISO22301 is actually the same as for ISO27001 above, in the same order.

For ISO20000, China dominates the certification list absolutely, with nearly ninety percent of the certificates worldwide (24,152). After China (a long way after) comes the USA (360), India (314), Italy (192), Spain (172) and the UK (133). The top five sector list again mirrors that of ISO27001, only with “Public administration” at number five.

So what does all this tell us?

Obviously, it’s wise to be careful when drawing conclusions from statistics, but it’s probably safe to make the following broad observations:

• In terms of ISO certificates, the Chinese massively dominate the picture across the board, and their growth rates suggest this will only increase over the next few years.
• Demand for certification seems to be holding up in the UK, albeit with modest growth rates across most of the standards covered by the survey.
• The USA is not as keen on certification as we might have thought, and at the moment this is showing no sign of changing.
• Demand for ISO27001 certification remains strong, with the UK leading the way after China.

Hopefully this has given you an idea of what’s happening worldwide with ISO management system certification; head over to the ISO website if we’ve given you an appetite for more analysis.

Written by CertiKit’s CEO, Ken Holmes CISSP, CIPP/E. Ken is the primary author of CertiKit’s toolkit range, an ISO 27001 Lead Auditor and has helped to implement, operate and audit ISO certifications over a varied 30-year career in the Information Technology industry. 

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