“I have the rarest strategy.” This sentence shows up on social media all the time, and every time about a different strategy. How many people have each strategy, and which one is truly the rarest? The answer is more interesting than you might think.
What the big surveys say
There's no reliable Enneagram “census.” All we have is data from online tests that people filled in themselves. And that data varies quite a bit:
- A survey by enneagram-personality.com (nearly 190,000 people): the most common was the Mediator (9) at 16%, closely followed by the Traditionalist (6) and the Individualist (4). The rarest was the Expert (5) at just under 5%, with the Leader (8) just ahead at 6%.
- Data from the JobCannon test (over 10,000 completions): here it's almost the reverse. The most common was the Expert (5) at 26%, the rarest the Mediator (9) at 3%.
So the very strategy that's the rarest according to one source is the most common according to the other. How is that possible?
Why the numbers differ so much
Who takes the test. The people who take personality tests aren't the same as the people on an average street. Those who like reflecting on themselves, look for depth, or are trying to figure out where they belong are more likely to take one. That favors Individualists, Experts, and Traditionalists.
How the test is built. Every test measures things a little differently. Some questions inflate strategies that people recognize themselves in easily, like “I like to think things through in depth.” Other strategies are harder to recognize, because their motivations aren't visible at first glance.
Who is easy to spot. You can spot a Leader (8) a mile away, but Leaders themselves often don't bother with personality tests. A Mediator (9), on the other hand, easily answers the way they think they're supposed to, and the result gets blurred.
So which one is the rarest?
The honest answer: we don't know for sure. The ones most often cited as rare are the Leader (8) and the Expert (5). Both strategies lean independent and have little appetite for self-discovery tests. Among women, Leaders and Experts are even rarer; among men, Altruists (2) are. But upbringing plays a role here too: many people learn to behave differently than their strategy would suggest.
Is it good to have a rare strategy?
Rare doesn't mean better or worse. Every strategy has its strengths and blind spots. But rarity does explain one thing: when you have a strategy that few people around you share, you may feel like people don't understand you. A female Leader in a workplace where women are expected to be accommodating, or an Expert on a team full of Optimists, knows this well.
That's when it helps to know there's nothing strange about you. You just work differently than most of the people around you. And that can become an advantage: you see what others overlook.
All nine at a glance
- Perfectionist (1): wants to do things right. Profile
- Altruist (2): sees what others need. Profile
- Strategist (3): goes after goals and success. Profile
- Individualist (4): searches for what's real. Profile
- Expert (5): wants to understand things in depth. Profile
- Traditionalist (6): looks for security and reliable people. Profile
- Optimist (7): looks for experiences and options. Profile
- Leader (8): wants to be in control and protect what's theirs. Profile
- Mediator (9): seeks calm and harmony. Profile
Curious whether you're one of the rare ones? The test takes about 10 minutes. Find out your strategy
