Real numbers, or none at all
“Only 4% of people are Eights!” You've seen figures like that.ldquo;Eights are the rarest type!“Only 4% of people are Eights!” You've seen figures like that.rdquo; “Only 4% of people are Eights!” You've seen figures like that.ldquo;Most pastors are Twos!“Only 4% of people are Eights!” You've seen figures like that.rdquo; You“Only 4% of people are Eights!” You've seen figures like that.apos;ve seen claims like these. Most have no source, and the ones that do disagree with each other. Here's what is actually known, how to do the odds yourself, and the honest data we're building.
Why published type statistics disagree
Type 5 most common (16.6%), Type 3 rarest (5.7%).
crystalknows.com/enneagramType 9 most common and Type 5 least common, the opposite of Crystal on Fives. Summaries of the same survey don't even agree on its numbers.
One summary of itA few more Nines than other types. Women more often 2, 4 and 7; men more often 3, 5 and 8.
Cited in Sutton 2012's reviewWhy they disagree: each sample is whoever chose to take that particular test, and each test has its own leanings. A test that over-detects Fives will “find” lots of Fives. That's why we won't publish distributions until our own sample is large, weighted where needed, and measured with a test we've validated.
What the research says about the Enneagram
The main systematic review (Hook et al., Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2021; 104 samples) found the evidence for reliability and validity mixed. Some highlights:
| Finding | People | Result | Study |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retaking the same test (RHETI) gives the same type | 135 | 82% | Dameyer 2001 |
| Two different Enneagram tests agree on type | 135 | 42% | Dameyer 2001 |
| Paragraph test matches the type found by interview or course, by type | 970 | 37% (Eights) to 68% (Nines); chance is 11% | Daniels & Price 2000 |
| Type stays the same after careful workshop typing | 390 | 85% on average (79–100% by type) | Wagner 1981/1983 |
| Classifying type from a trait questionnaire (OPQ) | 241 | 75% | Brown & Bartram 2005 |
| Predicted links between types and Big Five, values and motives | 400+ | 53 of 62 confirmed | Sutton et al. 2009 |
| Movement along the stress and growth lines | 185 | Not supported (possibly the methods) | Thrasher 1994; Twomey 1995 |
Studies summarized in Sutton (2012) and Hook et al. (2021). Our full notes: research on reliability, validity and test design. The lesson: careful methods matter, and confident typists are not always right.
Do the odds yourself
Start at an even 1 in 9 (11.1%). Published estimates for single types run from about 6% to about 17%, depending on the test and who took it, so move the slider to see how much that changes the answers.
On average, 2.1 of the other 19 people.
If every type were equally common. Uneven real shares make this less likely.
Type × wing × instinct stack (9 × 2 × 6 = 108 combinations), if all were equally common. Someone here shares yours: 16%.
These are arithmetic on stated assumptions, not measurements. Once our own opted-in data passes the thresholds below, the calculators will use real shares with their uncertainty.
The data we're building
After your result, you'll be able to opt in to a few anonymous research questions. Each statistic below goes live once enough people have answered for it to mean something. Every figure will show its sample size, date range and uncertainty, and nothing will be published from fewer than 100 people.
Type, instinct, stack and subtype shares
by gender, age band and country
How rare is your exact combination?
type × wing × stack, measured
Relationship pairings
observed vs expected by chance, for couples and friends
Types by profession, income band and church role
with representation vs base rate; never ranking worth
Most common mistypes
what people thought they were vs their result
Retest stability
how often people get the same type again
Famous people, labeled honestly
Most celebrity typings are guesses. We list only people who have stated their own type, or whom several established Enneagram authors type the same way, and we say which.
- Mahatma Gandhi (widely typed)
- Martha Stewart (widely typed)
- Florence Nightingale (widely typed)
- Suzanne Stabile (self-identified)
- Oprah Winfrey (widely typed)
- Elvis Presley (widely typed)
- Bob Dylan (widely typed)
- Martha Graham (widely typed)
- Ian Morgan Cron (self-identified)
- Jane Goodall (widely typed)
- Stephen Hawking (widely typed)
- Ellen DeGeneres (widely typed)
- George Carlin (widely typed)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (widely typed)
- Dave Barnes (self-identified)
- Toni Morrison (widely typed)
- John Wayne (widely typed)
- Gerald Ford (widely typed)
- Carl Jung (widely typed)