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Digest of Education Statistics
2005 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 104. General Educational Development (GED) test takers and credentials issued, by age: 1971 through 2003
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
        |Number of| Number com-|  Number of|           Percentage distribution of credentials
        |     test|pleting test|credentials|                       issued,\4\ by age
        |  takers,|    battery,|    issued,|__________________________________________________________
        |(in thou-|   (in thou-|  (in thou-|19 years old|20- to 24-|25- to 29-|30- to 34-|35 years old
Year    |sands)\1\|   sands)\2\|  sands)\3\|     or less| year-olds| year-olds| year-olds|    or over
________|_________|____________|___________|____________|__________|__________|__________|____________
1       |        2|           3|          4|           5|         6|         7|         8|           9
________|_________|____________|___________|____________|__________|__________|__________|____________
1971\5\ |      377|        --- |        227|        --- |      --- |      --- |      --- |        ---
1972\5\ |      419|        --- |        245|        --- |      --- |      --- |      --- |        ---
1973\5\ |      423|        --- |        249|        --- |      --- |      --- |      --- |        ---
1974 ...|     --- |        --- |        294|          35|        27|        13|         9|          17
1975 ...|     --- |        --- |        340|          33|        26|        14|         9|          18
        |         |            |           |            |          |          |          |
1976 ...|     --- |        --- |        333|          31|        28|        14|        10|          17
1977 ...|     --- |        --- |        332|          40|        24|        13|         8|          14
1978 ...|     --- |        --- |        381|          31|        27|        13|        10|          18
1979 ...|     --- |        --- |        426|          37|        28|        12|        13|          11
1980 ...|     --- |        --- |        479|          37|        27|        13|         8|          15
        |         |            |           |            |          |          |          |
1981 ...|     --- |        --- |        489|          37|        27|        13|         8|          14
1982 ...|     --- |        --- |        486|          37|        28|        13|         8|          15
1983 ...|     --- |        --- |        465|          34|        29|        14|         8|          15
1984 ...|     --- |        --- |        427|          32|        28|        15|         9|          16
1985 ...|     --- |        --- |        413|          32|        26|        15|        10|          16
        |         |            |           |            |          |          |          |
1986 ...|     --- |        --- |        428|          32|        26|        15|        10|          17
1987 ...|     --- |        --- |        444|          33|        24|        15|        10|          18
1988 ...|     --- |        --- |        410|          35|        22|        14|        10|          18
1989 ...|      632|         541|        357|          35|        24|        13|      --- |        ---
1990 ...|      714|         615|        410|          36|        25|        13|        10|          15
        |         |            |           |            |          |          |          |
1991 ...|      755|         657|        462|          33|        28|        13|        10|          16
1992 ...|      739|         639|        457|          33|        28|        13|         9|          17
1993 ...|      746|         651|        469|          33|        27|        13|        10|          16
1994 ...|      774|         668|        491|          36|        25|        13|         9|          15
1995 ...|      787|         682|        504|          38|        25|        13|         9|          15
        |         |            |           |            |          |          |          |
1996 ...|      824|         716|        488|          39|        25|        13|         9|          14
1997 ...|      785|         681|        460|          43|        24|        12|         8|          13
1998 ...|      776|         673|        481|          44|        24|        11|         7|          13
1999 ...|      808|         702|        498|          44|        25|        11|         7|          13
2000 ...|      811|         699|        487|          45|        25|        11|         7|          13
        |         |            |           |            |          |          |          |
2001 ...|    1,016|         928|        648|          41|        26|        11|         8|          14
2002 ...|      557|         467|        330|          49|        25|        10|         6|          11
2003 ...|      657|         552|        387|          47|        26|        10|         7|          11
________|_________|____________|___________|____________|__________|__________|__________|_____________
---Not available.
\1\Number of people taking the GED tests (one or more subtests).
\2\Number of people completing the entire GED battery of five tests.
\3\Number of people receiving high school equivalency credentials based on the GED tests.
\4\People who did not report their age were excluded from this calculation. Data for 1988 and prior years are for number of test takers and may not be comparable to data for later years.
\5\Includes outlying areas.
NOTE: Except where indicated, data are for United States only and exclude outlying areas. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.
SOURCE: American Council on Education, General Educational Development Testing Service, Who took the GED? Statistical Report, various years; General Educational Development Testing Service, Who Passed the GED Tests? 2002 Statistical Report, July 2005. (This table was prepared August 2005.)


2005 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest