A series of fascinating reworked maps have revealed the most popular jobs around the world, with being a pilot topping the list as the world’s number one dream job in 2024.
In the main map, generated using the Ahrefs search analysis tool, countries have been color-coded to indicate the jobs their residents most want information about for a career change.
The phrase ‘How to be a pilot‘ was introduced 50,000 times on the Internet in January 2024, and was the top search engine in 55 countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Kenya, Somalia, India, Saudi Arabia and Japan.
According to research by job site Jobseeker, the second most popular job on the planet is flight attendantwhich obtained 29,000 searches and ranks first in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
Be a model It ranks third (25,000 searches) worldwide and is the number one professional choice in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Egypt, Algeria, Iraq and Morocco.
The map above shows countries color-coded to indicate the jobs most sought after by their residents, and the key indicates the 35 “dream jobs” used to collect the data. The information was collected by the employment site Jobseeker, using the Ahrens search tool. Pilot is the number one choice in 55 countries on all six inhabited continents.
Pilot reaches number one in the United Kingdom, as well as in six other European countries. In Central Europe, the notion of being a model dominates: it tops the list in 25 European countries, including France, Italy, Sweden and Germany, and in 45 countries around the world.
Jobseeker said: “Europe was a key driver of this trend, and the continent’s (prominence) as a fashion powerhouse likely influenced the local population.”
The rest of the top five is made up psychologist (fourth, 17,000) – top in Australia and Bolivia – and ‘man of influence‘ (fifth, 17,000), leader in Colombia, Venezuela and South Africa.
Doctor occupies sixth place in the ranking (15,000) – first in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – teacher ranks seventh (14,000, seventh) and is the leader in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia; while he becomes a lawyer ranks eighth (14,000). A legal career is the number one option in Haiti and Liberia.
The rest of the top 10 is made up firefighter (ninth, 14,000 and top in Chile) and ‘entrepreneur‘ (13,000 and maximum in Guinea).
North America is clearly in love with a life of travel, as the dream job for residents of the US, Mexico and Canada is flight attendant. The results are varied throughout South America and there are no overwhelming favorites. Influencer, teacher and even soccer coach, all protagonists
In Australia, the largest nation in Oceania, the most popular career path is psychologist. Neighboring New Zealand’s dream job is pilot, while stewardess ranks first in four countries.
Outside the top 10 list, maps reveal that Montenegro is bucking European trends, and people there daydream about life as a musician.
While Australians are curious about pursuing psychology, there are countless jobs on the islands of Oceania that pique interest, from photographer in Samoa and the Cook Islands, to singer in New Caledonia and YouTuber in Fiji.
In South America, Argentinians are looking for details on how to become a chef, while Bolivians’ dream job is that of a photographer.
Peruvians, the research reveals, want to be teachers, citizens of Paraguay are soccer coaches and Uruguayans are desperate to be YouTubers.
In Asia, becoming a pilot or model are the main options, but not in China, where journalism is the number one career, while becoming a teacher is the dream role in Taiwan.
Afghanistan and Yemen also buck the trend in Asia: their citizens would rather be writers.
In Africa the pilot dominates, but there is also great interest in modern activities such as blogger and influencer.
In general, Asians want to be pilots, but models, lawyers and writers are also popular choices. In China, the dream job is that of a journalist
A Jobseeker spokesperson said: ‘It has been incredibly exciting to develop our dream jobs campaign as it has revealed key patterns and differences between what we consider to be your dream jobs.
‘While the prospect of becoming a pilot is an important theme throughout the study, the wide variety of career paths on display indicates that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to career satisfaction and fulfillment. We’re glad to see more modern avenues, like influencers and YouTubers, on the list. Who knows what people’s dream jobs will be as careers evolve over the next 10, 20, and 50 years?
“Every country in the world has a unique point of view on what their dream career means.”
To gather the data, Jobseeker compiled a “starter list” of 35 jobs commonly defined as dream careers. This list was then uploaded to Ahrefs and ranked by total global search volume.
Countries across six populated continents were evaluated for 35 dream jobs using the “how to become (JOB TITLE)” search template, with the most searched dream job for each country listed as the final result.
Data was collected through internet searches for January 2024.
For more information visit www.jobseeker.com/en/resume/articles/dream-jobs-around-the-world.