Digest of Education Statistics
2001 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 106. General Educational Development (GED) credentials issued, and number and age of test takers: United States and outlying areas, 1971 to 2000

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
       | Number of |Number com- |Number of|Percentage distribution of test
       |credentials|pleting test|  test   |    takers, by age
 Year  |  issued,  |  battery,  | takers, |__________________________________________________________
       | in thou-  |  in thou-  |in thou- |19 years old|20- to 24-|25- to 29-|30- to 34-|35 years old
       | 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 ..|       227 |        --- |     377 |        --- |      --- |      --- |      --- |        ---
1972 ..|       245 |        --- |     419 |        --- |      --- |      --- |      --- |        ---
1973 ..|       249 |        --- |     423 |        --- |      --- |      --- |      --- |        ---
1974 ..|       295 |        412 |     540 |         35 |       27 |       13 |        9 |         17
1975 ..|       342 |        507 |     652 |         33 |       26 |       14 |        9 |         18
       |           |            |         |            |          |          |          |
1976 ..|       337 |        507 |     656 |         31 |       28 |       14 |       10 |         17
1977 ..|       331 |        488 |     680 |         40 |       24 |       13 |        9 |         14
1978 ..|       381 |        467 |     641 |         31 |       27 |       13 |       10 |         19
1979 ..|       435 |        583 |     744 |         35 |       27 |       13 |        8 |         16
1980 ..|       488 |        708 |     779 |         37 |       27 |       13 |        8 |         15
       |           |            |         |            |          |          |          |
1981 ..|       500 |        701 |     770 |         37 |       27 |       13 |        8 |         15
1982 ..|       494 |        692 |     756 |         37 |       28 |       13 |        8 |         15
1983 ..|       477 |        678 |     740 |         34 |       29 |       14 |        9 |         15
1984 ..|       437 |        613 |     676 |         32 |       28 |       15 |        9 |         16
1985 ..|       427 |        622 |     685 |         33 |       26 |       15 |       10 |         16
       |           |            |         |            |          |          |          |
1986 ..|       439 |        648 |     713 |         33 |       26 |       15 |       10 |         16
1987 ..|       458 |        662 |     729 |         33 |       24 |       15 |       10 |         18
1988 ..|       421 |        617 |     701 |         36 |       23 |       14 |       10 |         17
1989 ..|       364 |        554 |     645 |         36 |       24 |       13 |       10 |         16
1990 ..|       419 |        628 |     727 |         35 |       25 |       14 |       10 |         17
       |           |            |         |            |          |          |          |
1991 ..|       471 |        672 |     770 |         33 |       27 |       14 |       10 |         17
1992 ..|       465 |        653 |     754 |         32 |       28 |       13 |       11 |         16
1993 ..|       476 |        652 |     757 |         33 |       27 |       14 |       11 |         16
1994 ..|       499 |        684 |     793 |         34 |       26 |       13 |       10 |         16
1995 ..|       513 |        698 |     803 |         37 |       25 |       13 |       10 |         15
       |           |            |         |            |          |          |          |
1996 ..|       514 |        733 |     842 |         40 |       25 |       13 |        9 |         15
1997 ..|       471 |        697 |     802 |         41 |       25 |       12 |        8 |         14
1998 ..|       496 |        693 |     796 |         43 |       25 |       11 |        8 |         14
1999 ..|       517 |        724 |     831 |         43 |       25 |       11 |        8 |         14
2000 ..|       501 |        718 |     830 |         42 |       26 |       11 |        8 |         14
_______|___________|____________|_________|____________|__________|__________|__________|____________

---Not available.
\1\Number of people receiving high school equivalency credentials based on the GED tests.
\2\Number of people completing the entire GED battery of five tests.
\3\Number of people taking the GED tests (one or more subtests).

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals due to 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. (This table was prepared August 2001.)


2001 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest