According to figures published recently by the International Standards Organisation (ISO), there was another steep rise in the number of certifications globally to both ISO 222301 and ISO 27001 last year. As of the end of 2020, there were:
- 44 486 valid ISO 27001 certificate (up 22% on 2019); and
- 2205 valid ISO 22301 certificates (up 30% on 2019).
When we blogged last year about the significant increase in 2019 we were very unsure as to what impact Covid-19 would have on attitudes towards certification; but these data suggest that the experience of the last 18 months has really increased interest in implementing these management systems.
The breakdowns by country were similar to previous years. The top three countries for ISO 27001 are unchanged from last year:
- China – 12 403 valid certificates;
- Japan – 5645 valid certificates; and
- UK – 3227 valid certificates.
As regards ISO 22301, there were some interesting patterns by country:
- The top two were unchanged from last year with the UK having 336 valid certificates and India having 169;
- Singapore moved back into third place (displacing South Korea) with 160 valid certificates; and
- Turkey moved into fourth place with 136 valid certificates after a four-fold increase in certifications over the last two years.