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Industries That Still Use COBOL and Fortran
Despite the rapid evolution of modern programming languages, COBOL and Fortran continue to play essential roles in several major industries. Their longevity is not an accident; it reflects decades of reliability, stability, and deep integration into critical systems that cannot simply be replaced overnight. While newer languages dominate the world of app development, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, COBOL and Fortran remain the backbone of industries where precision, consistency, and long‑term reliability matter most. Understanding why these languages persist reveals a great deal about the technological foundations that keep society functioning.
COBOL, developed in the late 1950s, was designed for business operations, especially those involving large volumes of data and financial transactions. Its structure emphasizes clarity and accuracy, making it ideal for industries that require dependable record‑keeping. As a result, COBOL remains deeply embedded in the financial sector. Banks, credit unions, and insurance companies rely on COBOL‑based systems to process transactions, manage accounts, and handle customer data. These systems often run on mainframes that have been in place for decades, and because they are stable and secure, organizations are reluctant to replace them. The cost and risk of rewriting millions of lines of code are simply too high, especially when the existing systems continue to perform reliably.
Government agencies also depend heavily on COBOL. Many public institutions adopted the language early on to manage payroll, tax processing, social services, and administrative records. Over time, these systems grew into massive, interconnected infrastructures that support essential public functions. Replacing them would require not only technical overhauls but also extensive testing to ensure accuracy and continuity. As a result, agencies often choose to maintain and update their COBOL systems rather than rebuild them from scratch. This reliance becomes especially visible during periods of high demand, such as tax season or times of economic stress, when these systems must handle enormous spikes in activity.
The insurance industry is another major user of COBOL. Insurance companies manage vast amounts of customer data, actuarial calculations, and long‑term policy records. Because many policies span decades, the systems that store and process this information must remain consistent over long periods. COBOL’s stability and readability make it well‑suited for this kind of work. Even as companies adopt modern technologies for customer interfaces or analytics, the core policy management systems often remain COBOL‑based.
While COBOL dominates business and administrative sectors, Fortran continues to thrive in scientific, engineering, and high‑performance computing environments. Created in the 1950s as well, Fortran was designed for numerical computation and remains one of the fastest languages for mathematical operations. Industries that rely on complex simulations or large‑scale numerical modeling continue to use Fortran because of its unmatched performance in these areas.
Aerospace and defense organizations are among the most prominent users of Fortran. These industries require precise calculations for aerodynamics, structural analysis, and mission simulations. Many of the foundational models and algorithms used in these fields were originally written in Fortran, and they have been refined over decades. Rewriting them in another language would introduce unnecessary risk and require extensive validation. As a result, Fortran remains the trusted tool for mission‑critical scientific computing.
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The energy sector also relies heavily on Fortran. Oil and gas companies use it for reservoir modeling, seismic analysis, and simulations that help determine drilling strategies. These tasks involve processing massive datasets and performing complex mathematical operations, areas where Fortran excels. Similarly, nuclear energy research depends on Fortran‑based models to simulate reactor behavior, radiation transport, and safety scenarios. The accuracy and speed of these simulations are essential, and Fortran’s long history in scientific computing makes it the preferred choice.
Climate science and meteorology represent another domain where Fortran remains indispensable. Weather prediction models, climate simulations, and atmospheric research require enormous computational power and highly optimized code. Many of the world’s most advanced climate models are written in Fortran because it allows scientists to run large‑scale simulations efficiently on supercomputers. These models evolve over time, but the underlying Fortran codebase remains central to their performance.
In both COBOL and Fortran industries, the challenge is not that the languages are obsolete but that the workforce familiar with them is shrinking. Many experienced programmers are nearing retirement, and fewer young developers are trained in these languages. Yet the systems they support are too critical to abandon. As a result, organizations are increasingly focused on maintaining, modernizing, and integrating these legacy systems with newer technologies rather than replacing them entirely.
In the end, the continued use of COBOL and Fortran reflects a simple truth: when a system works reliably, organizations are hesitant to disrupt it. These languages may not be glamorous, but they quietly power the financial transactions, scientific discoveries, and public services that modern life depends on. Their endurance is a testament to the strength of well‑designed technology and the industries that continue to rely on it.
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SPEAKING: Dr. Marcinko will be speaking and lecturing, signing and opining, teaching and preaching, storming and performing at many locations throughout the USA this year! His tour of witty and serious pontifications may be scheduled on a planned or ad-hoc basis; for public or private meetings and gatherings; formally, informally, or over lunch or dinner. All medical societies, financial advisory firms or Broker-Dealers are encouraged to submit an RFP for speaking engagements: CONTACT: Ann Miller RN MHA at MarcinkoAdvisors@outlook.com -OR- http://www.MarcinkoAssociates.com
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