Project Management Statistics: Everything You Need to Know (2024)

Written by: Samantha Ferguson
Last updated: 08 November, 2024

Approx reading time:

General project management stats

Does project management result in success?

Statistic
Projects that implement project management best practices are 2.5 times more successful.
Source: TeamStage

Is project portfolio management important?

Statistic
Yes, project portfolio management is extremely important – so much so that 4 out of 5 project managers say they rely on PPM to get by.
Source: Monday

What percentage of Agile projects are successful?

Statistic
Agile projects have a 64% success rate.
Source: Zippia
Statistic
Agile projects are 28% more successful than non-Agile projects.
Source: GoRemotely

What percentage of waterfall projects are successful?

Statistic
Waterfall projects have a 49% success rate.
Source: Zippia

What is the most popular Agile delivery framework?

Statistic
Scrum is the most widely used and popular Agile framework.
Source: Wrike

How popular is Hybrid project management?

Statistic
60% of project managers use the Hybrid project delivery approach.
Source: ProofHub

Does every project have a project sponsor?

Statistic
Fewer than 2 in 3 projects have engaged project sponsors.
Source: Wrike

How big are most project teams?

Most project teams (39%) are made up of 6-10 people.

Project team size chart
[Image source]

Project management industry stats

What are the best industries for project managers?

Project management job growth is expected to increase the most in the following sectors:

– Management and professional services
– Manufacturing
– Finance and insurance
– Information services and publishing
– Construction
– Utilities
– Oil and gas

Is project management a growing industry?

Statistic
Yes, the project management workforce is expected to grow by 33% across 11 countries by 2027.
Source: CPA

Is project management in high demand?

Statistic
Yes, project management is in extremely high demand. There is a need for 25 million new project management professionals globally by 2030, due to an increasing number of jobs needing project management-related skills.
Source: USC

How many companies provide project management training?

Statistic
61% of organisations provide some form of project management training.
Source: Monday

How many companies use risk management?

Statistic
64% of organisations conduct risk management.
Source: Wrike

PMO (project management office) stats

How many companies have a PMO?

Statistic
89% of organisations have at least one project management office (PMO)
Source: Monday

What does a PMO do day to day?

The top 5 activities carried out by a PMO are:

  • Project status reporting
  • Maintaining portfolio lists
  • Maintaining the project management methodology
  • Facilitating project approval processes
  • Providing project management expertise
PMO activities stat
[Image source]

Project manager stats

How many people work in project management?

Statistic
There are currently 90 million project management-oriented employees in project-led industries globally.
Source: PMI

How many project managers are there in the world?

Statistic
There are an estimated 16.5 million project managers in the world.
Source: GoRemotely

How many project managers are there in the US?

Statistic
There are an estimated 426,229 project managers currently employed in the United States.
Source: Zippia

How many project management professionals are there in the UK?

Statistic
There are approximately 2.13 million project management professionals employed in the UK on a full time basis.
Source: APM

How many projects do project managers run?

59% of project managers run 2-5 projects. 11% run 6-10 projects, 15% run more than 10 projects and 15% run a single project.

Project manager chart
[Image source]

PMP (Project Management Professional) certification stats

How many project managers are PMP certified?

Statistic
There are more than 1.2 million PMP certification holders worldwide.

What is the PMP pass rate?

Statistic
The PMP pass rate is less than 70%.
Source: Knowledge Hut

What is the PMP passing score?

Statistic
The PMI (Project Management Institute) does not disclose the score required to pass the PMP exam. Organisations have tried to make estimates but only the PMI knows the true figure.
Source: Knowledge Hut

How much does PMP certification cost?

Statistic
The PMP exam fee is $405 for PMI (Project Management Institute) members and $575 for non-members.

How much more do PMP holders earn?

Statistic
The median salary for PMP holders is 16% higher globally than those without certification.

Project performance stats

How many projects fail?

Statistic
65% of all projects fail.
Source: Upwork

What are the biggest causes of project failure?

Statistic
Three of the biggest reasons for project failure are: changes in organisational priorities, changes in project goals and the inaccurate collection of requirements.
Source: ProofHub

How many projects go over budget?

Statistic
50% of projects are completed over budget.
Source: TeamStage

What is the average project cost overrun?

Statistic
The average project cost overrun is 27%.

How much money is wasted on projects?

Statistic
Collectively, $1 million is wasted every 20 seconds by organisations due to poor project management practice, which equates to around $2 trillion a year.
Source: Businesswire

How many projects are late?

Statistic
74% of projects are delivered late.
Source: Wrike

How many companies complete projects on time?

Statistic
29% of organisations mostly or always complete projects on time.
Source: Wellingtone

How do organisations prioritise projects?

Statistic
18% of companies prioritise strategic alignment, 14% say expected benefits and 14% say ROI.
Source: Wrike

Project communication stats

How do internal teams communicate with each other?

Statistic
31% of people communicate with their colleagues primarily by email, 26% use an online chat tool such as Slack, 24% use a project management tool, 7% primarily communicate by phone, and the remaining 10% use a variety of tools including Notion, WhatsApp, Google Meet and Zoom.

How do businesses communicate with clients?

Statistic
55% of people communicate with their clients using email, 19% use a project management tool, 11% of people communicate with their clients using online chat tools, the rest use phone calls and face-to-face communication.

Does project management software improve communication?

Statistic
Yes, usage of project management software has helped to improve team communication by 52%.
Source: GoRemotely

Project management software stats

How many organisations use project management software?

Statistic
25% of organisations currently use project management software or tools.
Source: Kissflow
Statistic
77% of high-performing projects use project management software.
Source: FinancesOnline

How big is the project management software industry?

Statistic
The global project management software industry was valued at $6.1 billion in 2021, and is expected to reach $15.08 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 10.68% from 2022 to 2030.

What is the biggest market for project management software?

Statistic
The United States is the biggest region for project management, with 29.6% of the market share.
Source: ProofHub

How much time does project management software save?

Statistic
On average, project management software helps employees save 498 hours per year.
Source: ProofHub
Written by <a href="https://www.project.co/author/samanthaferguson/" target="_self">Samantha Ferguson</a>

Written by Samantha Ferguson

Samantha is Head of Content at Project.co. She has 5+ years' experience in the project management industry and in that time she's written over 100 articles on the subject and conducted studies on employee engagement and how AI is impacting the industry. She also has a lifetime's experience of being obsessed with organisation and productivity - Samantha is that person who plans travel itineraries down to the hour! Her favourite Project.co feature is the AI assistant.

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