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No one has any idea. The agencies all publish claims of the number of certifications, but ... even if you trust them, how many are all the same person taking several classes?
Number of Certified Divers in the World?
- Thread starter jason.elias
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Is it that no one has any idea or no one knows for sure? I think the latter.
I'm sure that PADI's data is a complete mess.
I'm positive that PADI doesn't know how many individual people they've certified over the years. The way certifications are registered they can't distinguish between two people with the same name who live in different places or one person who moved and took certifications under different addresses or under names spelled slightly differently (Rob vs. Robert, for example). Moreover, my observations having tried to help people get replacement cards is that the data captured is often incomplete, incorrect or polluted. It's entirely possible that even if you give them the correct name, birthday and address that they still can't find your certifications in the system.
Moreover, at sub-pro levels, every C-card has it's own unique number so even based on that, there is no way for PADI to identify a cluster of certs belonging to the same person. In short. PADI's system was originally designed by people with good intentions who didn't have a clue what they were doing, which means that without a major clean up (if, indeed, this is even possible at this point) there won't be any useful information coming out of it. (This is referred to as "GIGO" -- garbage in, garbage out).
I'm sure they have a good idea of the total number of certs they've issued, but that's it. Who they belong to, if that person is living or dead, still diving or not, is a complete mystery...
R..
I'm positive that PADI doesn't know how many individual people they've certified over the years. The way certifications are registered they can't distinguish between two people with the same name who live in different places or one person who moved and took certifications under different addresses or under names spelled slightly differently (Rob vs. Robert, for example). Moreover, my observations having tried to help people get replacement cards is that the data captured is often incomplete, incorrect or polluted. It's entirely possible that even if you give them the correct name, birthday and address that they still can't find your certifications in the system.
Moreover, at sub-pro levels, every C-card has it's own unique number so even based on that, there is no way for PADI to identify a cluster of certs belonging to the same person. In short. PADI's system was originally designed by people with good intentions who didn't have a clue what they were doing, which means that without a major clean up (if, indeed, this is even possible at this point) there won't be any useful information coming out of it. (This is referred to as "GIGO" -- garbage in, garbage out).
I'm sure they have a good idea of the total number of certs they've issued, but that's it. Who they belong to, if that person is living or dead, still diving or not, is a complete mystery...
R..
Fortunately for all of you, I know the answer to this question. There are, more or less, 3 million persons on the planet that are currently certified to dive. Of those, some got certified and took a trip and are not active. Of the 3 million or so, about 20% are active and avid divers, at least for a while. That means there are about 600,000 divers out there talking diving and planning dive trips and diving. Of those 600,000 active divers, about 1 in 3 in "hard core." By hard core I mean diving is their #1 passion. They own their own gear, subscribe to dive magazine, buy books about diving (Please buy mine) some of them are techies and some are new divers but have the bug. So that means there are about 200,000 "divers" who define their whole existence as being divers. Of those 200,000, more or less, about 15% are out of commission at any given time due to illness, injury, or incarceration (you know who you are!). That leaves 170,000 active hard core divers at any time. Those are my people- the true scuba snobs- avid and active divers with excellent skills who dive responsibly and expect others to do the same. Of those, I have met about 10%, so that means there are about 153,000 more of you for me to meet. I am going to have to go on more trips so I can meet the rest of you! And if I cross paths with any of the other 2.8 million divers I have yet to meet, well, I will enjoy meeting you too! Any questions?
DivemasterDennis
DivemasterDennis
Is there any way to get sales numbers for BC's from the major manufacturers? 
It seems highly likely to me that PADI knows how many OW certs have been processed in the last decade.
It seems highly likely to me that PADI knows how many OW certs have been processed in the last decade.
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