# Distribution of Enneagram types



## zallla (Oct 11, 2011)

As anyone can imagine, the distribution of Enneagram types is a _fascinating_ subject and has been studied many times. Thanks to @_cyamitide_ , I found this with type prevalences for both genders. They state that these results have been very consistent with what others have reported previously. Well, you can judge the power of that argument by yourself but that's what they say. Anyway, here are their inspiring results!

View attachment 34727


What do you think? I wasn't that surprised that type 2 is the most common among females, type 9 among males and that type 5 is the least common among females and type 2 among males.

However, many other things were a bit surprising. For example, type 3 is_ the least common type_ and type 7 is the next... Oh, many people here seem to think types 4 and 5 are the rarest ones but based on these results, they are not based on these results! Nearly every fifth person is a 4 and the same is true for type 5 too. Combined, types 4 and 5 make _37 %_. 

Certain types seem to correlate with the gender at least to some extent. Types 2 and 4 are clearly more common among females and types 5 and 8 are more common among males - a surprise or not.

Anyway, if you sum a bit, you'll find out that...

type 1: 28 %
type 2: 24 %
type 3: 11 %
type 4: 18 %
type 5: 19 %
type 6: 29 %
type 7: 16 %
type 8: 24 %
type 9: 33 %

Based on these, *from the least common to the most common* we get
*3 < 7 < 4 < 5 < 2 = 8 < 1 < 6 < 9*


They also reported Enneagram marriage frequencies. Also those results were interesting, for example same-type marriages are rare _except_ among Fours and people tend to marry along a line of integration. 


Oh, I know statistics are only statistics but it's one of my passions so here we are ^_^


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## Wake (Aug 31, 2009)

Oh, the gender statistics are percentages of that type with regards to the gender alone. That is a high number of type 8s among men. I doubt it. I would be curious to see what Timeless' test would give in a similar study.


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## aconite (Mar 26, 2012)

the article said:


> The data on this page are reported by the couples themselves, or their children, and are not verified by an objective test.


Yeah. I think these numbers aren't very accurate, and many people might be mistyped. You know, the (Western) gender stereotypes alone would indicate 8 for men and 2 for women. The low number of people typed as Sevens isn't that surprising, too. Many descriptions present 7s as party animals, hedonistic and irresponsible - while marriage and parenthood is deeply connected to responsibility.


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## zallla (Oct 11, 2011)

Yeah, true - especially I know that mistyping happens. However, one should remember that typing is always subjective no matter _who_ decides the label in the end. Enneagram experts (and one can question them too you know) have formed their own view about types and the individual to be typed is an expert of his own life having all the information and being the last person to really tell what are his motivations. Both of these are subjective and thus I do not find the results presented here inaccurate just because they are based on self-reported type information. @aconite, you declare you're a Seven, how inaccurate statement is that?


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## Wake (Aug 31, 2009)

zallla said:


> Yeah, true - especially I know that mistyping happens. However, one should remember that typing is always subjective no matter _who_ decides the label in the end. Enneagram experts (and one can question them too you know) have formed their own view about types and the individual to be typed is an expert of his own life having all the information and being the last person to really tell what are his motivations. Both of these are subjective and thus I do not find the results presented here inaccurate just because they are based on self-reported type information. @aconite, you declare you're a Seven, how inaccurate statement is that?


It's true that there will always be a level of inaccuracy, but sometimes that level is higher based on the test. Personally, I trust this site's Enneagram test more than any other, but I also think I maybe wrong for doing that. As Aconite explained that it is so easy for a test to be based off a wrong assumption about a type and therefore underestimate it in the statistics created.

Knowing your own type is not subjective but a fact. Until you understand your own type then it is a questionable label. I suppose the types themselves are subjective and not necessarily correct, but we learn to define each type to the best of our ability.


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## aconite (Mar 26, 2012)

zallla said:


> Enneagram experts (and one can question them too you know) have formed their own view about types and the individual to be typed is an expert of his own life having all the information and being the last person to really tell what are his motivations. Both of these are subjective and thus I do not find the results presented here inaccurate just because they are based on self-reported type information.


I'm not saying they're inaccurate just because the information is self-reported. I'm saying they're inaccurate because of several factors:
- we don't know how exactly did the people decide on their types. Was it a long and thorough self-analysis? Or "I love my kids and I take care of them, I must be a 2", "I'm intelligent and I love reading, I must be a 5"?
- the study doesn't reflect the population in general, but only married heterosexual couples
- 3 is the least common type? I find it very hard to believe; as far as I know, they're often mistyped because they can identify more with their social roles than with their core motivation (artistic Threes thinking they're Fours, intellectual Threes thinking they're Fives etc.)
- some people pretend they're something else. I remember reading a "type me" thread, where the OP was a very blatant example of a counterphobic 6, but argued he was an 8.
- many, many descriptions of Enneagram types focus too much on superficial traits and stereotypes



zallla said:


> @aconite, you declare you're a Seven, how inaccurate statement is that?


Are you asking how sure I am of my type? 90%, I think.


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## zallla (Oct 11, 2011)

I was the one who suggested that you could be a Seven and I still think you are  I only meant that the way you declare your type is as subjective as those in the study. I totally agree with you with those issues you mentioned, self-reports are a big problem because of biases... I guess I assumed that the people who did the research were smarter than that, knowledgeable enough not to do a survey having that low quality. We do not know and probably never will. I still find the results entertaining and interesting though. Even insightful.


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## Inguz (Mar 10, 2012)

Wake said:


> Oh, the gender statistics are percentages of that type with regards to the gender alone. That is a high number of type 8s among men. I doubt it. I would be curious to see what Timeless' test would give in a similar study.


 Why do you? Higher levels of testosterone could have an effect.


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## Wake (Aug 31, 2009)

Inguz said:


> Why do you? Higher levels of testosterone could have an effect.


All of the numbers I've been shown in the past have shown 8s to be one of the more rare types, and this aligns with my experience. I did say that I doubt them, not that it isn't possible. Who they're polling is another factor, and that begs the question of how each comes into their own Enneagram type because conditions vary from country to country and divisions within the population.


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## zallla (Oct 11, 2011)

Wake said:


> All of the numbers I've been shown in the past have shown 8s to be one of the more rare types, and this aligns with my experience. I did say that I doubt them, not that it isn't possible. Who they're polling is another factor, and that begs the question of how each comes into their own Enneagram type because conditions vary from country to country and divisions within the population.


Heh, I agree... One of my cousins was my first crush. We were like 11 or something, he was incredibly sweet and kind, curious and sensitive, interested in gardening, drawing, writing etc. And then, a few years ago, I realized he was actually homosexual. He has a great sense of style and he is introverted like he was when we were kids. And once I noticed he had made some Enneagram test in Facebook and the result was - type Eight. And type Eight is like the least likely for him in my opinion... He is not Eightish at all. I guess he'd like to be though. I could easily believe he's a Four or a Six, probably has those in his tritype.

So, certain people definitely are more willing to be Eights than truly are Eights. And yet, at least four persons _very_ close to me are Eights! One of my brothers is an Eight, absolutely without a doubt. Our grandpa and great uncle (who are not relatives) are _also_ Eights, again without a doubt. Our other grandpa could have been an Eight based on the stories I've heard but I cannot really tell since I never met him, he died before I was eveb born... _And_ my father-in-law is an Eight. Based on all this, I could assume type Eight is not a very rare type but my sample is totally inadequate.


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## aconite (Mar 26, 2012)

Inguz said:


> Why do you? Higher levels of testosterone could have an effect.


Enneagram types are developed before puberty, aren't they? Or are you saying that people with high testosterone are more likely to (mist)type as Eights?


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## Inguz (Mar 10, 2012)

aconite said:


> Enneagram types are developed before puberty, aren't they? Or are you saying that people with high testosterone are more likely to (mist)type as Eights?


 Ah no, was merely giving example of a biological difference between male and female.


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## Impact Calculus (Mar 29, 2012)

I think just as men are less likely to have feeling in their top two functions, you could say men are less likely to have their most prominent enneagram type in the heart triad. 

You can make general achknowledgements like that based off of general tendencies that you would find in gener studies research. Overall, most research studies regarding MBTI or the enneagram will be in some sort of setting that will be more biased towards certain types than others.


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## Malandro (Jul 17, 2014)

I say whatever when it comes to gender. Depending on which country you're in, you're taught to act differently. I don't think hormones or anything has a relation to it if I'm honest. They say women 8s and men 8s act differently just because of expectations. The tests can only do so much.

On top of that, different variants would come into play. They say female 7s are softer than male 7s and on top of that, if I was a Sp 7, I could easily be typed as a 3 or an 8.


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## plumbeaver (Nov 11, 2016)

Sewcialist said:


> type 1: 28 %
> type 2: 24 %
> type 3: 11 %
> type 4: 18 %
> ...


I don't think these numbers are accurate. They add up to way more than 100%.


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## RoboticForest (Feb 12, 2017)

Impact Calculus said:


> I think just as men are less likely to have feeling in their top two functions, you could say men are less likely to have their most prominent enneagram type in the heart triad.
> 
> You can make general achknowledgements like that based off of general tendencies that you would find in gener studies research. Overall, most research studies regarding MBTI or the enneagram will be in some sort of setting that will be more biased towards certain types than others.


Type 3 seems more stereotypically male to me even if it's in the heart triad. Ambition is more associated with males. So is a lot of success threes are often associated with. I've read in Riso Hudson's enneagram books somewhere that female threes may have to develop their wing more to come off as more feminine. Though, in reality, threes can be a success to whatever the culture they grew up in values which includes more feminine values like kindness. Heart triad does not mean a thinking preference in Mbti. In some sources, most 3s are strong Te users while in other sources, 3s are more associated with Ne-doms which includes the ENTPs.

I'm going to agree with you though that the two other types in the heart triad seem more stereotypically feminine in quality. The general 4 being emotionally rich and creative while the general 2 image as being very kind hearted both come off as feminine.

Edit : Oops. This was posted in 2012. Haha. Well, I guess at least this post could work as a resource for other onlookers.


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## drmiller100 (Dec 3, 2011)

plumbeaver said:


> I don't think these numbers are accurate. They add up to way more than 100%.


they add up to 200 percent. the person was trying to figure out total for each type across genders. should have divided it all by 2, but if you are just looking at distribution, it still works.

Interesting that 3 is the least common. I wonder if that is real, or 3 is just least likely to be worried about typing themselves.


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