Whilst the UK Actuarial Profession is relatively small in comparison with other professional organisations, its membership has been steadily increasing. Members include students, associates and affiliates, both within the UK and throughout the rest of the world.

Membership data as at 30 September each year

Fellows

Full and partial regulation

It should be noted that for Students and Affiliates "Partial" should be taken as "Overseas" as these categories are regulated by the UK Profession.

During the year 2005/2006 there were 535 New Fellows of whom 449 were Full Regulation and 86 were Partial Regulation.
During the year 2006/2007 there were 565 New Fellows of whom 484 were Full Regulation and 81 were Partial Regulation.

It should be noted that quite a number of Fellows missed the extended deadline for the Partial Rate subscription so we may see a movement of more going to the Partial Rate during the year 2007/2008.

Practising Certificate holders

Student statistics

The Profession continues to attract new students into an actuarial career. Despite the lower numbers of women studying mathematics at school, the ratio of male and female members continues to even out.

Whilst it is possible to enter the actuarial profession with a degree in any discipline, most employers currently advertise for graduates from numerate disciplines. This is reflected with the subjects studied by new entrants joining the Profession.

Most popular first degree subjects studied by new entrants in 2006

• Mathematics
• Actuarial science
• Economics
• Finance
• Physics
• Science
• Mathematics - MORSE
• Computer science

Top 10 universities attended by new entrants in 2006

Only first degrees are included. Postgraduate diplomas and MSc courses have not been counted

• City
• Warwick
• Oxford
• London School of Economics
• Heriot-Watt
• Nottingham
• Cambridge
• University College Dublin
• Dublin City
• Kent

Other universities where large numbers of trainee actuaries were drawn from in 2006 include: Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, Edinburgh, Imperial College London, Leeds, Manchester, Southampton.