Personal value statistics: Excellence
Excellence appeared in the ranked ten of 5.9% of the 2,099,004 assessments completed since 2020, which makes it the 54th most frequently ranked of the 62 core values.
At a glance, 2020 to 2026
- Appearance rateof assessments rank it in their ten. 54th of 62 values.
- 5.9%
- First placeof assessments put it first. 52nd of 62 on this measure.
- 0.3%
- Top threeof assessments put it in the top three. 20% of those who rank it.
- 1.2%
- Average positionis its mean position, out of ten, where it is ranked at all.
- 6.2
In the overall ranking excellence sits just below Uniqueness (6.6%) and just above Variety (5.8%).
How the Popularity of Excellence Has Changed
In 2020 excellence appeared in 5.2% of assessments and ranked 57th. In 2026 so far it appeared in 7.5% and ranked 55th, a rise of 2.3 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.
Excellence, 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 | 5.2% | 57th | 0.3% | 1.0% | 6.3 |
| 2021 | 224,096 | 5.5% | 54th▲3 | 0.3% | 1.1% | 6.2 |
| 2022 | 179,271 | 5.6% | 55th▼1 | 0.3% | 1.1% | 6.3 |
| 2023 | 397,249 | 5.8% | 54th▲1 | 0.3% | 1.2% | 6.2 |
| 2024 | 460,244 | 5.7% | 54th | 0.3% | 1.2% | 6.2 |
| 2025 | 449,233 | 5.5% | 55th▼1 | 0.3% | 1.0% | 6.3 |
| 2026 so far | 304,533 | 7.5% | 55th | 0.4% | 1.6% | 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.
Excellence by Country
Of the 25 countries with enough assessments to publish, participants in Brazil rank excellence most often, at 13.1%, and those in Poland least often, at 4.5%.
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 excellence is ranked most often
7.5% of participants rank excellence in their top ten, from 13.1% in Brazil to 4.5% in Poland. Tap or hover a country to see its top values.
- 4–6%
- 6–7%
- 7–9%
- 9–11%
- 11–12%
- 12–14%
- too few assessments
| Country | Appearance rate | vs average (pp) | Rank there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 13.1% | +5.7 | 35th of 62 |
| United Arab Emirates | 11.2% | +3.8 | 39th of 62 |
| Switzerland | 11.2% | +3.7 | 38th of 62 |
| Saudi Arabia | 10.9% | +3.5 | 39th of 62 |
| France | 10.5% | +3.0 | 40th of 62 |
| South Africa | 10.2% | +2.7 | 43rd of 62 |
| New Zealand | 9.8% | +2.3 | 44th of 62 |
| Egypt | 9.6% | +2.1 | 42nd of 62 |
| Germany | 8.8% | +1.4 | 51st of 62 |
| Ireland | 8.8% | +1.4 | 47th of 62 |
| Italy | 8.2% | +0.7 | 47th of 62 |
| Malaysia | 8.1% | +0.7 | 55th of 62 |
| Hong Kong SAR China | 8.1% | +0.7 | 46th of 62 |
| India | 8.1% | +0.6 | 51st of 62 |
| Canada | 7.7% | +0.2 | 52nd of 62 |
| Australia | 7.7% | +0.2 | 52nd of 62 |
| Mexico | 7.7% | +0.2 | 55th of 62 |
| Singapore | 7.6% | +0.1 | 51st of 62 |
| Indonesia | 7.6% | +0.1 | 57th of 62 |
| United States | 7.1% | −0.4 | 55th of 62 |
| United Kingdom | 7.0% | −0.5 | 52nd of 62 |
| Philippines | 6.8% | −0.7 | 52nd of 62 |
| Netherlands | 6.0% | −1.5 | 54th of 62 |
| Romania | 5.6% | −1.9 | 57th of 62 |
| Poland | 4.5% | −3.0 | 54th of 62 |
Every assessment with a known country, 7.5%
Excellence by Age
Excellence holds roughly level across the age bands, from 9.0% among participants under 18 to 8.3% among those 65 and over.
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 | 9.0% | +0.4 | 49th of 62 |
| 18–24 | 8.4% | −0.2 | 53rd of 62 |
| 25–34 | 8.4% | −0.2 | 50th of 62 |
| 35–44 | 8.8% | +0.3 | 50th of 62 |
| 45–54 | 8.3% | −0.2 | 52nd of 62 |
| 55–64 | 7.8% | −0.7 | 51st of 62 |
| 65 and over | 8.3% | −0.3 | 51st of 62 |
Everyone who gave an age, 8.5%
Excellence by Gender
Men rank excellence more often than women, by 3.7 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 | 7.1% | −1.5 | 57th of 62 |
| Men | 10.8% | +2.3 | 47th of 62 |
| Non-binary | 6.4% | −2.2 | 53rd of 62 |
Everyone who gave a gender, 8.5%
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 excellence 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 excellence stand among your own values? Rank your own values.