The 100 Fastest-Growing Global Skills for 2024

The skills-based economy is here. Employees’ skills are the single most important factor for determining whether a business can deliver on its goals and beat the competition. Gartner estimates that the number of skills needed for a single job is increasing by 10% year-over-year, and more than 30% of the skills required three years ago will soon be irrelevant.

As leaders plan for long-term upskilling programs, they’re embracing a skills-based approach to talent management in their organizations. Rather than emphasizing formal qualifications or degrees to fill roles, companies are prioritizing on-the-job experience and skills.

On the Udemy platform, we’ve seen an increase in skills learning, with course enrollments and learners steadily growing year-over- year. There are more than 64 million learners on our platform, with nearly 10 million new learners joining over the last year alone.

Much of the learning growth has been in technical skills. Learners are focused on exam preparation to earn certifications, which offer third-party validation of a learner’s understanding of a topic. Many of these exam prep hours were spent on key technical areas that will continue to grow in importance, such as cloud computing and cybersecurity.

See the list of fastest-growing skills below to learn what topics are trending so you can set a roadmap for 2024 and beyond.