I have seen figures of >200,000 for Chartered Engineers but how many of them are Electrical. Does anyone have any idea?

This would be an impossible question to answer without asking them individually. The IET takes the view that trying to precisely define Engineers by "type" is impractical and limiting. Technologies and the opportunities to exploit them continually evolve. The IET is the "Professional Home for Life for Engineers and Technicians". We expect that the during a professional career many of our members will both drive these changes and respond to them.

At one time I described myself as an Electrical Engineer, although I might fall outside your narrower question because I was an Incorporated Electrical Engineer (with some Mechanical and Electronic capability). Many members of The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) used the Title "Chartered Electrical Engineer". At the time the Chartered or Incorporated designation depended largely on whether you went to university (CEng) or completed an apprenticeship and studied part-time to higher level (IEng). Relatively few of my generation in the UK went to university and even fewer in the generation before me, so the IEE had different rules and special exams at one time.

By 1990 the IEE had absorbed The Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers and the Institution of Manufacturing Engineers. By 2006 The multi-disciplinary Institution of Incorporated Engineers joined and The Institution of Engineering and Technology came into being. The IET is world renowned for its expertise in the fields of electrical and electronic engineering and continues to build upon the IEE foundations .

To attempt to answer the question in 2011 according to Engineering Council published figures The IET held around 70 000 registrations, of those, I would very crudely estimate that circa 40,000 would be Chartered Engineers who considered their primary area of expertise to be in electrical, electronic and related technologies.

Amongst the 35 smaller bodies that register Engineers in the UK I would offer another crude estimate that there are a further 5000-8000 CEng who would primarily consider themselves electrical and electronic.

There are a proportion of people who express their multi-disciplinary interest by membership of more than one institution, but their Engineering Council registration will be via a "home institution".

If you want to research the area further then there are many sources of information including Engineering Council, Engineering UK, UK Government Departments and research bodies like the Institute for Employment Studies. I'm sure the IET Library team could help.

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Roy Bowdler IEng FIET FCIPD
IET Registration & Standards

Edited: 25 January 2013 at 02:01 PM by roybowdler

Thanks for the response Roy.