The Most Common Personality Types in The World

If you’re like most people, chances are, this was one of the first questions that crossed your mind after taking the 16 personality test and learning more about your personality type.

You probably already know that each of the 16 personality types is made up of four personality dimensions:

Introversion (I) or extraversion (E)
Sensing (S) or intuition (N)
Feeling (F) or thinking (T)
Judging (J) or perceiving (P)

However, what you may not know is that some of these personality dimensions are more common among people than others. Consequently, personality types vary greatly in prevalence.

Well, if you’re eager to learn how different personality types compare in terms of their popularity, look no further!

In this article, we’ll look into the most common personality types among men, women, and the general population. Let’s dig in!

The ISFJ personality type is the most common personality type in the world.

Also known as Defenders, ISFJs are believed to make up around 13.8% of the general population. With an estimated 19.4% of women identifying with this type, ISFJ is also the most common personality type in the female population. Meanwhile, just above 8% of men are thought to belong to this type.

ISFJ stands for Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Judging. Thanks to the combination of these traits, people with the Defender personality type are:

Caring. Despite their introverted natures, ISFJs place a high value on relationships in their lives. Nurturing and compassionate, they derive pleasure from taking care of those around them. Also, as strong extraverted feeling (Fe) users, they easily empathize with others and strive to maintain harmonious relationships with them.
Responsible. Organized and hardworking, ISFJs possess a deep sense of duty and responsibility, which makes them very reliable. They tend to have a strong work ethic and usually go above and beyond to complete their tasks to the best of their abilities.
Practical. Observant and sensible, ISFJs have an eye for detail and value concrete actions more than abstract ideas. Unsurprisingly, they typically excel at executing ideas. While they make great listeners, they usually try to help others not only through words of encouragement but also in tangible ways.

Interestingly, a 1996 study on personality type distribution in the United States found that most people prefer introversion to extraversion, sensing to intuition, and judging to perceiving. This makes ISFJ and ISTJ the most popular personality types among Americans. Together, they make up a whopping 27% of the adult population in the United States!

Discover your key personality traits

As we’ve mentioned above, the ISFJ personality type is the most common personality type in females.

Since slightly above 19% of women—or nearly 1 in 5—are thought to fall into this personality type, there’s a good chance you’ve met quite a few female ISFJs in your life!

That said, there’s no definite answer to why this particular personality type is so popular among women.

However, given that the ISFJ personality type is characterized by many traits that are generally considered feminine, it isn’t all that surprising. Sensitivity, cooperativeness, gentleness, supportiveness, and helpfulness are just a few of the many traditionally feminine traits that define the ISFJ personality type.

Many people believe that women and men are different by nature (e.g., women are more caring than men, while men tend to be more assertive than women). However, some theories, including the social role theory, suggest that our personalities and behavior may be influenced by social conditioning, gender roles, and the like.

As such, it’s possible that many women adopt these traits to conform to gender roles, social norms, and societal expectations. As a result, they may develop personalities that most closely resemble the ISFJ personality type, which embodies most feminine characteristics desirable in women. That said, there’s a lack of research to confirm or disprove this hypothesis.

The ISTJ (Logistician) personality type is the most common personality type in males.

ISTJ men are believed to make up roughly 16% of the entire male population. Again, it isn’t clear why exactly so many men fall into this personality type.

Still, it’s safe to say that ISTJs display many traditionally masculine traits, such as rationality and focus on efficiency. Whether such traits occur in men naturally or are encouraged by society is up for debate, but there’s no denying that many men possess them and are likely to identify as ISTJs.

Moreover, the same study on personality type distribution found that men—at least in the United States—tend to prefer thinking, while women more often prefer feeling. This might explain why there are fewer female ISTJs and male ISFJs, even though both of these types are very common.

Now that we’ve discussed the two most common personality types among men and women—ISFJ and ISTJ—here are some other popular personality types:

General population: 12%
Men: 7.5%
Women: 16.9%

ESFJ is the most common extraverted personality type. People with this personality type are outgoing, warm-hearted, dependable, and energetic. Above all else, they enjoy helping others and cultivating close relationships with them.

General population: 8.8%
Men: 7.6%
Women: 9.9%

Reserved and creative, ISFP is the most popular perceiving personality type. Also known as Adventurers, ISFPs are open-minded, spontaneous, and kind. They often have an eye for beauty and enjoy artistic activities.

General population: 8.7%
Men: 11.2%
Women: 6.3%

ESTJs are nicknamed Executives, which speaks volumes about their leadership skills. People who belong to this personality type tend to be ambitious, hardworking, and pragmatic. They respect rules, value efficiency, and relentlessly pursue their goals.

General population: 8.5%
Men: 6.9%
Women: 10.1%

ESFPs, or Entertainers, are born to be in the spotlight. Talkative, spontaneous, and fun-loving, they have larger-than-life personalities and strive to make the most out of their lives. They also tend to be rather positive and easy-going.

General population: 8.1%
Men: 6.4%
Women: 9.7%

ENFP (Champion) is the most common intuitive personality type. Champions are enthusiastic, creative, and open-minded people who embrace change and novelty. More than anything, they enjoy exploring ideas and different points of view.

Find out more about your personality type

If you’re curious to find out how common your personality type is, check out this table where we’ve ranked all 16 personality types from the most to the least common:

Personality Type	General Population	Men	Women
ISFJ	13.8%	8.1%	19.4%
ESFJ	12%	7.5%	16.9%
ISTJ	11.6%	16.4%	6.9%
ISFP	8.8%	7.6%	9.9%
ESTJ	8.7%	11.2%	6.3%
ESFP	8.5%	6.9%	10.1%
ENFP	8.1%	6.4%	9.7%
ISTP	5.4%	8.5%	2.3%
INFP	4.4%	4.1%	4.6%
ESTP	4.3%	5.6%	3.0%
INTP	3.3%	4.8%	1.7%
ENTP	3.2%	4.0%	2.4%
ENFJ	2.5%	1.6%	3.3%
INTJ	2.1%	3.3%	0.9%
ENTJ	1.8%	2.7%	0.9%
INFJ	1.5%	1.2%	1.6%

As you’ve probably noticed, sensing personality types are significantly more common than intuitive ones. While there’s no research to explain this phenomenon, some speculate that the sensing trait is more vital to survival than intuition, which caused it to become more prevalent in society.

Interestingly enough, INFJ is the rarest personality type, even though it differs from ISFJ—the most common personality type—by one letter only!

We hope that you found this article interesting!

In short, the most common personality type is ISFJ, but this isn’t the only reason why people with this personality type are often considered the backbone of society. Warm and industrious, ISFJs care deeply about the people in their lives, fostering a sense of community and connection both in their neighborhoods and their workplaces.

Before you leave, let’s summarize the main points we covered today:

As a general rule, sensing personality types are more common than intuitive personality types.
Feeling personality types are more common among women, whereas men more often belong to thinking personality types.
The most common personality types are SJ (ISFJ, ISTJ, and ESTJ), whereas the rarest personality types are NJ (INTJ, ENTJ, and INFJ).

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