Number of CMAs in the US and Worldwide (2009 – 2025 Statistics)

If you’re considering taking the CMA exam and earning the certification, you may wonder just how many other CMAs there are out there. Up until about ten years ago, the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) published quite a bit of statistical information about exam candidates. Unfortunately, in 2016, this flood of information dried up.

However, that doesn’t mean there’s no data on the subject. In fact, the IMA does occasionally publish some total numbers, and its associated publications weigh in as well. We’ll fill you in on what we know.

How Many CMAs Are There in 2025?

Unfortunately, we don’t have the precise information for 2025, or even 2024. The most detailed breakdown of the numbers comes from 2019. From the fiscal year 2018-2019, the IMA had granted CMAs to 11,530 new candidates. That represented a staggering increase of 89% from the previous year. At that time, more than 75,000 CMAs had been granted since the program began.

Where are these CMAs Located?

As of 2019, 47% of active CMAs lived and worked in the Americas. However, China’s numbers are growing rapidly. At the time, there were more than 15,000 active CMAs in China with another 82,000 candidates enrolled in the program.

What Are the Trends in CMA Growth?

In 2022, the CMA exam celebrated an important anniversary: it had been around for fifty years. In August of the previous year, according to Strategic Finance magazine, the IMA granted its 100,000^th CMA designation of all time. The lucky CMA was Abdul Naser Parker of Qatar. Interestingly, this milestone happened just five years after the IMA certified its 50,000^th CMA.

Here’s what IMA President and CEO Jeff Tomson had to say about that level of growth:

To put things in perspective, it took 44 years to reach 50,000 CMA certificates in 2016, but only five years to reach the 100,000th in 2021. This is an amazing achievement and reflects the global demand for our certification. The fact that IMA accomplished this during such a turbulent time in our world is even more noteworthy. While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to put many people’s career plans on hold, IMA saw 8% year-over-year growth in active CMAs in fiscal 2020-2021, an incredible accomplishment given the volatility of the past year.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that there are 100,000 active CMAs working right now. Certainly, some have retired or passed away. However, the doubling of the numbers in just five years speaks to the continued, substantial growth of the profession. That’s an average growth of 10,000 new CMAs each year.

How Did We Get Here?

Although the information is now outdated, in 2016, I did a detailed breakdown of the previous seven years of IMA data. Reading this now, you can see trends that have continued into 2025. Here are the results of that analysis

In FY2016, more than 3,838 new professionals earned the CMA credential:

18,761 new candidates joined the program during this period, an all-time high and a 20% increase from 15,574 in fiscal year 2015:

The CMA program itself has achieved an annualized growth rate of ~20% for the past six years. To date, more than 50,000 professionals around the world have earned the CMA credential. Among them, around 30,000 are active holders.

In terms of IMA membership, which includes active CMAs and those taking the CMA exam, there are 80,000 members all together in 140 countries and 300 chapters.

If we look at the trend regionally, there has been a rapid rise in international members, with more than 9,000 and 5,000 candidates from Asia-Pacific and Middle East respectively.

Here is the top eight countries by the number of individuals sitting for the exam:

• China (45%)
• US (18%)
• UAE (9%)
• Egypt (4%)
• India (4%)
• Saudi Arabia (4%)
• Jordan (2%)
• Kuwait (2%)

Source: SF Magazine (Sep 2016)

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Source of IMA member statistics:

• FY 2016
• FY 2015 (the IMA has removed these statistics)
• FY 2009 – 2014