LearnSixSigm
Where are Lean Six Sigma Students from?
In late May of 2025, we launched our first free course on Udemy. Since then, we've had just under 300 students enrol. The course is available to anyone with access to the Udemy platform, representing a relatively good sample (N=296) of students interested in Lean Six Sigma.
Students representing 62 countries appeared in the sample, which cover 60% of the World's population.
Who's Most Interest in Lean Six Sigma?
When we look at the same data but weighted by population, we see a very different result. There seems to be, at least from the data we have collected, interest from West and Central African countries, many Gulf States, Singapore, Eastern Europe, Southern Africa and Commonwealth nations who may be catching up with the times when it comes to interest in Lean and Six Sigma.
We see many countries with more interest in Lean Six Sigma than those traditionally thought of as Lean Six Sigma practising nations. Our initial assumption that the United States, United Kingdom and India would show the most interest wasn't supported.
Absent / Underrepresented Countries
Countries representing 40% of the World's population were missing from our dataset, but notable amongst that number were two of the largest nations which account for around half of that figure.
China
China was by far the largest country missing from our sample of students despite being a nation of 1.5 billion.
Despite announcements in 2022 that Udemy is keen to expand into China and that the Chinese seem to be open to this, there appears to be little penetration, at least where Lean Six Sigma is concerned.
While there is some evidence in the past that Chinese residents have had issues registering and interacting with the platform, this could remain true but runs contrary to the official positions of both Udemy and the Chinese government.
Another possible explanation for the poor uptake by Chinese students could be the relative lack of proficiency in English in mainland China. While English is spoken in some parts of the country and in certain industries, the general lack of English skills could explain what we have seen, especially if you contrast China with Singapore, whose residents have a very high proficiency in English and have given us a relatively large number of students.
Russia
Another large country with students missing from our dataset was Russia, which, in 2022, Udemy decided to restrict from purchasing courses on the platform without excluding them from enrolling in their free ones.
While these restrictions might be offputting, they can't fully explain the lack of students from here.
English speaking in Russia is comparatively better than most nations, with an Education First, English Proficiency Index score somewhere equivalent to a CEFR score of B2, which describes independent users of English however, EF EPI test takers are self-selecting, and not a good representative of all Russian inhabitants.
Language Choice
We found that 80% of students enrolled chose to learn on Udemy using English as their primary language. However, it's hard to draw conclusions from this as our course is in English and students enrolling are self-selecting. Still, it seems many international students are willing to study with English as their primary chosen language.
Conclusions
Educators would do well to target their marketing of Lean Six Sigma geographically, however, it may not be as simple as targeting countries that have the most students in the absence of other dimensions.
In terms of student numbers, India dominates the market of prospective students in Lean Six Sigma, but when weighted by population size, we see more patterns emerging of interest globally, with some very bright hotspots.
We would like to investigate further the apparent absence of interest in Lean Six Sigma from the large markets in China and Russia, despite the penetration into India, and other BRICS nations. Development into these markets could be very lucrative for Lean Six Sigma educators as well as the businesses and people in those nations.
We're collecting further data for more reliable indications of interest in Lean Six Sigma Worldwide to be shared in an update to this post.
