According to the July, 2010 edition of PMI Today, there are currently 385,096 active holders of the Project Management Professional (PMP) credential.  When you consider that just seven years ago there were fewer than 100,000 PMP credential holders, that number is staggering.  Plainly, what was once a way for project management professionals to differentiate themselves has become de rigueur.  Still, those who hold the PMP credential earn upwards of $10,000 more per year than their non-credentialed colleagues, according to the Sixth Edition of the PMI Project Management Salary Survey.

Somewhat less impressive is the number of practitioners who have attained the three newer specialty credentials.  Introduced in 2007, only 421 have attained the Program Management Professional (PgMP) credential, which can at least partially be explained by the cost and complexity of the three-part assessment process.  Introduced in 2008, the Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP) credential has drawn only 357, and the Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) credential is held by only 320 practitioners, world-wide.   I suspect part of this is the “new” factor – no one is quite sure what these credentials will mean to prospective employers, so few are willing to invest in them.

See the PMI web site for more information about their credentials.