Every year the ISO organization performs a survey of certifications to their management system standards. This annual survey shows the number of valid certificates to ISO management standards (e.g. ISO 9001, ISO 14001, etc.) reported for each country annually.

The ISO Survey 2021 results show an important growth compared to the ISO Survey 2020 results for ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 that is due for a substantial part to the increase in the level of participation in this year's survey. Source: https://www.iso.org/the-iso-survey.html

ISO 45001 Wins with +48% growth over the year prior

In 2021, we see a massive growth in the number of ISO 45001 certificates (Occupational Health & Safety) issued globally with a 48% increase over the year prior. As one would expect, we see a strong growth in the # of certificates issued for this occupational health and safety standard coming out of China with +67,359 certificates issued over the prior year. India comes in 3rd place with an increase of 1.844 over the year before (lower than I would have expected).

Similarly, Concentric has seen increases in inquiries for auditor training for these standards. Making the correlation between certificates issued globally that now need auditors to audit regularly. While ISO 9001 is our number one requested training, we have many students that need additional training in ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 to be an integrated auditor and well-versed in an array of standards for all processes in an organization.

OH&S CERTIFIcation growth in Italy at +2,763 or +28%.

QMS certificates in China still leads +90,380 or +28% growth

The majority of the action still lies in the growth of QMS certificates issued in China with a +90,380 or +28% growth over 2020. The second place contender for ISO 9001 falls way behind with certificates issued in Czech Republic at +654 or +7%.

Other Results highlightED IN THE REPORT

• The level of participation of certification bodies has been good and consistent with the previous edition of the Survey. Compared with the previous edition (2020), an additional accreditation body contributed data from its newly establish database of accredited certification bodies, which impacted the overall level of participation.

• All the standards covered by the ISO Survey experienced growth of the number of certificates, in particular ISO 45001, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, driven by the increase in China but also due to the increase in participation in the Survey as detailed in the last bullet point below. For indication on the annual variations, a comparison table on the number of certificates provided by the data providers that took part in both 2020 and 2021 ISO Survey is available next to the full results file.

• This edition of the ISO Survey includes four additional standards: ISO 20121, ISO 29001, ISO 44001 and ISO 55000.

  • ISO 20121: ISO 20121 is a standard for event sustainability management systems. It provides guidance for event organizers on incorporating sustainability principles and practices into the planning and execution of events. The standard aims to minimize the environmental and social impacts of events while maximizing their positive contributions.

  • ISO 29001: ISO 29001 is a standard specific to the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries. It defines the requirements for a quality management system in these sectors, focusing on the development, production, and supply of petroleum, petrochemical, and natural gas products.

  • ISO 44001: ISO 44001 is a standard for collaborative business relationship management systems. It provides a framework for organizations to establish and improve collaborative relationships with partners, suppliers, and customers. The standard promotes effective collaboration, communication, and coordination to achieve mutual objectives and enhance business performance.

  • ISO 55000: ISO 55000 is a series of standards for asset management. It provides guidelines and requirements for organizations to establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve their asset management systems. The standard helps organizations manage their assets effectively, optimize their asset performance, and achieve their strategic objectives related to asset management.

• Like the previous editions of the survey, the results show some fluctuations at the country level that are explained by factors related to the participation. For example, for ISO 9001, Norway, Portugal and Germany show a decrease that is mainly due to nonparticipation of certification bodies that took part in the previous Survey. On the contrary, Japan, US, India, Thailand, Taiwan and Korea show growth for the number of certificates for ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 due to the participation of certification bodies that did not take part in the previous Survey. A particular increase has taken place for the UK due to the data submitted by the accreditation body which was added to the data reported by the certification bodies.

At this rate, not getting ISO certified is not an option. As more and more organizations globally are standardizing their business processes, the need for ISO auditor certification is a career requirement that is as standard as having a college education. Don’t get left behind in the global certification boom. Learn more about getting certified at the highest level of training credentials for auditors and practitioners globally.