I don't think it's so much a matter of certifications being less popular, as it is the age of the certs. The SQL 2008 exams have only been out for 4+ months now, whereas the SQL 2000 certs are more than 10 years old.

I'd reckon the large number of SQL 2000 DBA certifications are in part due to the dotcom certification boom as well as the sheer amount of time people had to take the exams. Whereas only early adopters and people like MCTs who are required to certify ASAP have gotten to sit the 2008 exams so far.

Correction to the above - the SQL 2000 certification is not more than 10 years old, rather the MCDBA certification, which began with SQL 7, is that old.

An other reason to avoid comparison between 2000 and 2005 is "one version jump". I'm one of these who skipped 2005 and directly take 2008 certificate.
Let remember that first preparation books was delivered from Amazon in middle of february 2009. Upgrade exams from SQL2005 was released in february too. Depending of these factors, the start results are definitely very good:
SQL2008 : 4 months = 358 + 213 + 137  = 708 MCITP ( 177 monthly)
SQL2005 : 48 months = 7928 + 3377 + 1385 = 12690 MCITP ( 264 monthly)

I expect less interest for Microsoft's certification programs from employers next years. My expectation is based on unbelievably easyer certification ways to PRO degrees. Decrese of certificate quality was bad idea for certified persons and for employers. Employers often can't understand and evaluate details between degrees with so much abbraviations. It's crazy to have separate diplomas for algebra, linear algebra, geometry and analytical geometry, isn't it? Only simple "DBA" is sufficient for the employer to expect serious knowleadge in database admistration and development. May be only MCM prerequests gravities around the real expectations for "professional" person, but it is impossible expensive for individuals (depending their living region) and are too high level for common case.
In fact there are no education paths nor certifications for "wide" specialists, who administers simple server and 2-3 databases, developes simple C# applications, supports 50-100 users in company with data integration and reporting - native activities in mid and small business, where 24x7 is not need, where don't have megastructures with clusters and databases are often less gigabyte.
First exam with first degree to associate - ok, but it is stupid to present professional who don't know BI basics and can't write simple script.
I'm sorry, I'll beginner in english all my live. :)

Brad,

Do you know if there's an updated listing of the certification counts? Your link is dead. The Masters and Architects are listed at  http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/master.aspx#SQL, but I don't see a count of the MCITPs anymore.

Ion