Burnout test (Copenhagen Burnout Inventory)
See what a validated burnout test actually measures, how it is scored, and how a result is read against the population that actually fits you.
The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory is one of the most widely used burnout measures in the world and a free, public-domain alternative to the older Maslach Burnout Inventory. Developed by Tage Kristensen and colleagues in the Danish PUMA study and published in 2005, it treats burnout as a state of prolonged physical and emotional exhaustion and measures it in three life domains rather than as a single label.
The model
What it measures
The CBI measures burnout as fatigue and exhaustion, and separates where that exhaustion is attributed: to life in general, to work, and to the people one works with. That gives three correlated subscales shown below, each scored on its own 0-100 scale, rather than one global burnout verdict.
Personal burnout is generic exhaustion that anyone can feel; work-related burnout is the share a person attributes specifically to their job; client-related burnout is the part that comes from working with the people they serve (patients, students, customers, and so on). The Personal and Work-related scales overlap because they share the same exhaustion core, while Client-related is more distinct. The aspects listed under each subscale are illustrative facets of how it shows up, not separately scored items.
Prolonged physical and psychological exhaustion, regardless of its cause - feeling tired, worn out and depleted.
- PPersonal burnout
Prolonged physical and psychological exhaustion, regardless of its cause - feeling tired, worn out and depleted.
Facets: Physical exhaustion, Emotional exhaustion, Feeling worn out, Low energy and reserves.
- WWork-related burnout
The exhaustion and fatigue a person attributes specifically to their work.
Facets: Work feels emotionally draining, Worn out by the end of the day, Dreading another day at work, Too little energy left for life outside work.
- CClient-related burnout
The exhaustion that comes specifically from working with the people one serves (patients, students, customers).
Facets: Finds it hard to work with clients, Drained by client contact, Giving more than is given back, Wondering how long it can continue.
The evidence
Science and validity
The CBI was built as a free, public-domain replacement for the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the historical gold-standard measure that is sold under commercial licence. In the Danish PUMA study its three subscales showed strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha about .85 to .87), and CBI burnout prospectively predicted sickness absence, intention to leave the job, sleep problems and use of pain medication. The three-factor structure has held up well across many countries and translations.
You answer each question on a 5-point scale and the responses are converted to a 0-100 metric (for example, "always" or "to a very high degree" = 100, down to "never / almost never" or "to a very low degree" = 0). Each subscale score is the average of its items, so higher always means more burnout. There is no pass/fail diagnosis; a common convention treats a subscale average of 50 or above as a high degree of burnout, but the result is best read against a comparison group rather than as a clinical cut-off.
Where you stand
How a score becomes a percentile
A raw score only means something against a comparison group. For example, on the 0-100 personal-burnout scale a score of 50 sits about one standard deviation above the Danish human-service reference average (where the mean is near 36), placing it around the 84th percentile - more personal exhaustion than roughly five in six people in that comparison group, and at the threshold many studies treat as a high degree of burnout. Drag the sliders to see how a score on each subscale maps to a percentile; your real result is matched to the population that fits you when you take the test.
Your result, visualised across every dimension
Take the test once and see a full profile like this example, each dimension placed against the population most relevant to you, with plain-language interpretation.
See my full profile →Example profile shown for illustration.
The reference data
Benchmarked against the population that fits you
We benchmark your result against the population that actually resembles you, across 20 reference groups.
Each reference group is used as its own benchmark, not to rank one country against another.
How it works
What the questions feel like
Illustrative statements showing the style of the items. These are examples, not the official scored items.
How often have you felt worn out and physically exhausted?
Illustrative example in the style of the scale, not an official scored item.
How often do you feel drained at the very thought of another day at work?
Illustrative example, not an official scored item.
How often does working with the people you serve leave you feeling emptied out?
Illustrative example, not an official scored item.
Do you still have enough energy for family and friends in your free time?
Illustrative reverse-keyed example, not an official scored item.
Honest strengths and limitations
Strengths
- A free, fully public-domain burnout measure, designed as an open alternative to the commercially licensed Maslach Burnout Inventory.
- Separates personal, work-related and client-related exhaustion, so a result shows where burnout is coming from rather than giving one undifferentiated label.
- Brief (about 7 minutes), with strong reliability and prospective links to sickness absence and intention to leave across many countries.
Limitations
- It measures exhaustion, the energy core of burnout, but not every model's full picture - the Maslach tradition also scores cynicism and reduced accomplishment, which the CBI does not separate out.
- Burnout is not a formal medical diagnosis, so a high score signals a depleted, at-risk state, not a clinical condition, and the 50-point convention is a guide rather than a verified cut-off.
- Like all self-reports it reflects how the last weeks have felt and can move with circumstances; the published reference sample is human-service professionals (mostly women), not the general population, so percentiles are a guide, not a verdict.
See your full profile
A complete report, matched to the population that fits you, with plain-language interpretation of every trait.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory measure?
It measures burnout as prolonged physical and emotional exhaustion, split into three domains: personal burnout (general exhaustion), work-related burnout (the part attributed to the job), and client-related burnout (the part from working with the people you serve). Each is scored separately on a 0-100 scale.
How is the CBI scored?
Each question is answered on a 5-point scale that converts to 0-100 (for example, "always" = 100 down to "never" = 0). Each subscale score is the average of its items, so higher means more burnout. There is no diagnosis; a subscale average of 50 or above is often treated as a high degree of burnout, but the score is best read against a comparison group.
Is a high burnout score a medical diagnosis?
No. Burnout is classified as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition, and this test does not diagnose anything. A high score is useful self-knowledge - a signal that you are depleted and may be at risk - but if it is affecting your health or daily life, a qualified professional can help.
How does the CBI compare to the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)?
The MBI is the historical gold-standard burnout measure but is sold under a commercial licence and scores exhaustion, cynicism and reduced accomplishment. The CBI was built as a free, public-domain alternative focused on the exhaustion core, split across personal, work and client domains. On Psychology.me, the free Snapshot gives you a quick read on burnout-related strain alongside other measures.
Related tests
- Kristensen, T. S., Borritz, M., Villadsen, E., & Christensen, K. B. (2005). The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout. Work & Stress, 19(3), 192-207.
- Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 499-512.
The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory is the work of Tage Kristensen and colleagues (Kristensen et al., 2005) and was released into the public domain, free to use for non-commercial research and education; this independent informational page describes the instrument. The Maslach Burnout Inventory and MBI are referenced only for comparison and remain the property of their respective owners.