Personal value statistics: Competence
Competence appeared in the ranked ten of 7.1% of the 2,099,004 assessments completed since 2020, which makes it the 51st most frequently ranked of the 62 core values.
At a glance, 2020 to 2026
- Appearance rateof assessments rank it in their ten. 51st of 62 values.
- 7.1%
- First placeof assessments put it first. 54th of 62 on this measure.
- 0.3%
- Top threeof assessments put it in the top three. 16% of those who rank it.
- 1.1%
- Average positionis its mean position, out of ten, where it is ranked at all.
- 6.6
In the overall ranking competence sits just below Spirituality (7.7%) and just above Beauty (6.8%).
How the Popularity of Competence Has Changed
In 2020 competence appeared in 5.9% of assessments and ranked 54th. In 2026 so far it appeared in 9.1% and ranked 47th, a rise of 3.2 percentage points.
Pick a measure, and read it by year or month by month. A month holds a few thousand assessments, so it moves more than a year does. The gaps are months the archive has no data for.
Competence, year by year
Each rank is among the 62 values that year, by appearance rate. The arrow is its move from the year before.
| Year | Assessments | Appearance rate | Rank | First place | Top three | Average position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 84,378 | 5.9% | 54th | 0.2% | 0.9% | 6.7 |
| 2021 | 224,096 | 6.3% | 52nd▲2 | 0.2% | 0.9% | 6.8 |
| 2022 | 179,271 | 6.4% | 52nd | 0.2% | 0.9% | 6.8 |
| 2023 | 397,249 | 6.8% | 51st▲1 | 0.3% | 1.0% | 6.8 |
| 2024 | 460,244 | 7.0% | 51st | 0.3% | 1.0% | 6.8 |
| 2025 | 449,233 | 6.8% | 51st | 0.3% | 1.0% | 6.7 |
| 2026 so far | 304,533 | 9.1% | 47th▲4 | 0.4% | 1.8% | 6.2 |
2020 holds 6 months of data and 2022 holds 7 months of data, so their figures cover part of the year. 2026 covers January to September 2026.
Competence by Country
Of the 25 countries with enough assessments to publish, participants in Brazil rank competence most often, at 19.6%, and those in Egypt least often, at 5.5%.
Country is recorded for the assessments from December 2025 to September 2026, so this section reads those 272,982 assessments and compares each country with all of them.
Where competence is ranked most often
9.2% of participants rank competence in their top ten, from 19.6% in Brazil to 5.5% in Egypt. Tap or hover a country to see its top values.
- 5–8%
- 8–10%
- 10–13%
- 13–15%
- 15–18%
- 18–20%
- too few assessments
| Country | Appearance rate | vs average (pp) | Rank there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 19.6% | +10.4 | 20th of 62 |
| Germany | 13.3% | +4.1 | 35th of 62 |
| Singapore | 13.0% | +3.8 | 34th of 62 |
| Indonesia | 12.8% | +3.6 | 39th of 62 |
| France | 11.8% | +2.6 | 32nd of 62 |
| Romania | 11.5% | +2.2 | 39th of 62 |
| Malaysia | 11.4% | +2.2 | 46th of 62 |
| United Kingdom | 11.4% | +2.2 | 40th of 62 |
| Canada | 9.9% | +0.7 | 45th of 62 |
| Ireland | 9.9% | +0.7 | 45th of 62 |
| Australia | 9.5% | +0.3 | 45th of 62 |
| Netherlands | 9.4% | +0.2 | 46th of 62 |
| South Africa | 9.3% | +0.1 | 47th of 62 |
| Mexico | 9.1% | −0.1 | 47th of 62 |
| United States | 8.8% | −0.4 | 47th of 62 |
| Philippines | 8.7% | −0.6 | 47th of 62 |
| Saudi Arabia | 8.6% | −0.6 | 51st of 62 |
| Poland | 8.5% | −0.7 | 44th of 62 |
| Switzerland | 8.1% | −1.2 | 48th of 62 |
| New Zealand | 7.9% | −1.3 | 51st of 62 |
| Hong Kong SAR China | 7.9% | −1.4 | 47th of 62 |
| United Arab Emirates | 7.5% | −1.7 | 53rd of 62 |
| India | 7.2% | −2.1 | 55th of 62 |
| Italy | 6.9% | −2.3 | 53rd of 62 |
| Egypt | 5.5% | −3.7 | 57th of 62 |
Every assessment with a known country, 9.2%
Competence by Age
Competence is ranked more often with age, from 6.6% of assessments among participants under 18 to 11.4% among those 65 and over, about 1.5 points per band.
Age is an optional question after the ranking, so this section reads the 66,624 assessments from December 2025 to September 2026 whose participants gave one. A difference between bands mixes what changes as people age with what differs between generations.
| Age | Appearance rate | vs average (pp) | Rank there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 6.6% | −5.2 | 54th of 62 |
| 18–24 | 11.3% | −0.6 | 44th of 62 |
| 25–34 | 14.2% | +2.4 | 30th of 62 |
| 35–44 | 14.4% | +2.5 | 29th of 62 |
| 45–54 | 14.5% | +2.7 | 30th of 62 |
| 55–64 | 13.7% | +1.8 | 31st of 62 |
| 65 and over | 11.4% | −0.5 | 44th of 62 |
Everyone who gave an age, 11.9%
Competence by Gender
Men rank competence more often than women, by 1.4 percentage points.
Gender is optional too, asked beside age, so this section reads the 64,656 assessments from December 2025 to September 2026 whose participants gave one. “Prefer not to say” is counted in no group.
| Gender | Appearance rate | vs average (pp) | Rank there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women | 11.3% | −0.6 | 44th of 62 |
| Men | 12.7% | +0.8 | 40th of 62 |
| Non-binary | 13.8% | +1.9 | 33rd of 62 |
Everyone who gave a gender, 11.9%
About These Figures
Every figure on this page is a share of completed assessments on Personalvalu.es, read from the same aggregates as the Global Values Research. The appearance rate is how often competence is among a participant's ten most important values. It is not a score, and a difference between groups describes the participants in them without explaining it.
How the aggregates are built, and why some countries and groups are left out, is set out in the methodology. Month-by-month figures for every value are in the monthly archive.
Statistics for every value
- Acceptance
- Accountability
- Adventure
- Ambition
- Appreciation
- Authenticity
- Authority
- Beauty
- Certainty
- Challenge
- Commitment
- Compassion
- Competence
- Contribution
- Control
- Courage
- Creativity
- Curiosity
- Determination
- Discipline
- Equality
- Ethics
- Excellence
- Excitement
- Fame
- Family
- Financial stability
- Forgiveness
- Freedom
- Friendship
- Growth
- Health
- Helpfulness
- Honesty
- Independence
- Influence
- Inner harmony
- Intelligence
- Job security
- Justice
- Love
- Loyalty
- Meaningful work
- Passion
- Peace
- Pleasure
- Popularity
- Privacy
- Religion
- Reputation
- Respect
- Security
- Spirituality
- Success
- Teamwork
- Tolerance
- Tradition
- Trust
- Uniqueness
- Variety
- Wealth
- Wisdom
Where does competence stand among your own values? Rank your own values.