Table 324.10.

Doctor's degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by field of study: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2018-19

Field of study	1970-71	1975-76	1980-81	1985-86	1990-91	1995-96	2000-01	2005-06	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Total	64,998	91,007	98,016	100,280	105,547	115,507	119,585	138,056	158,590	163,827	170,217	175,026	177,587	178,548	178,134	181,357	183,734	187,568
Agriculture and natural resources1	1,086	928	1,067	1,158	1,185	1,259	1,127	1,194	1,149	1,246	1,333	1,411	1,407	1,561	1,526	1,561	1,496	1,613
Architecture and related services	36	82	93	73	135	141	153	201	210	205	255	247	247	272	245	291	250	255
Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies	143	186	161	156	159	183	216	226	253	278	302	291	336	312	323	349	335	370
Biological and biomedical sciences	3,603	3,347	3,640	3,405	4,152	5,250	5,225	6,162	7,672	7,693	7,935	7,939	8,302	8,053	7,939	8,087	8,218	7,978
Business2	774	906	808	923	1,185	1,366	1,180	1,711	2,249	2,286	2,538	2,828	3,039	3,116	3,325	3,328	3,338	3,636
Communication, journalism, and related programs	145	196	171	212	259	338	368	461	570	577	563	612	611	644	629	615	666	583
Communications technologies	0	8	11	6	13	7	2	3	3	1	4	0	3	0	4	0	0	0
Computer and information sciences	128	244	252	344	676	869	768	1,416	1,599	1,588	1,698	1,834	1,982	1,998	1,989	1,982	2,017	2,224
Education	6,041	7,202	7,279	6,610	6,189	6,246	6,284	7,584	9,237	9,642	10,118	10,572	10,929	11,772	11,838	12,692	12,780	13,020
Engineering	3,687	2,872	2,598	3,444	5,316	6,304	5,485	7,243	7,706	8,369	8,722	9,356	10,010	10,239	10,265	10,371	10,817	11,135
Engineering technologies3	1	2	10	12	14	50	62	75	67	56	134	111	107	123	133	152	212	215
English language and literature/letters	1,554	1,514	1,040	895	1,056	1,395	1,330	1,254	1,334	1,344	1,427	1,377	1,393	1,418	1,402	1,347	1,295	1,274
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	123	178	247	307	229	375	354	340	296	320	325	351	335	335	374	317	274	285
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	1,084	1,245	931	768	889	1,020	1,078	1,074	1,091	1,158	1,231	1,304	1,230	1,243	1,278	1,168	1,213	1,211
Health professions and related programs	15,988	25,267	29,595	31,922	29,842	32,678	39,019	45,677	57,750	60,221	62,097	64,192	67,447	71,004	73,687	77,693	80,139	82,895
Homeland security, law enforcement, and     firefighting	1	9	21	21	28	38	44	80	106	131	117	147	152	193	205	177	150	250
Legal professions and studies	17,441	32,369	36,391	35,898	38,035	39,919	38,190	43,569	44,627	44,853	46,836	47,246	44,169	40,329	37,034	35,123	34,373	34,387
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies,     and humanities	32	162	121	90	70	75	102	84	96	95	93	98	90	96	105	95	93	109
Library science	39	71	71	62	56	53	58	44	64	50	60	50	52	44	54	42	54	39
Mathematics and statistics	1,199	856	728	742	978	1,158	997	1,293	1,596	1,586	1,669	1,823	1,863	1,801	1,855	1,925	2,010	2,003
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	101	156	236	352	306	549	512	600	631	660	727	730	769	840	849	854	851	900
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies	2	15	42	39	28	104	177	194	266	257	288	295	317	311	331	319	298	337
Philosophy and religious studies	555	556	411	480	464	550	600	578	667	804	778	794	698	762	750	741	768	703
Physical sciences and science technologies	4,324	3,388	3,105	3,521	4,248	4,589	3,968	4,642	5,065	5,295	5,370	5,514	5,806	5,823	6,057	6,027	6,181	6,298
Psychology	2,144	3,157	3,576	3,593	3,932	4,141	5,091	4,921	5,540	5,851	5,936	6,326	6,634	6,583	6,540	6,702	6,275	6,214
Public administration and social services	174	292	362	382	430	499	574	704	838	851	890	979	1,047	1,123	1,066	1,116	1,157	1,287
Social sciences and history	3,660	4,157	3,122	2,955	3,012	3,760	3,930	3,914	4,238	4,390	4,597	4,610	4,724	4,828	4,706	4,706	4,676	4,544
Theology and religious vocations	312	1,022	1,273	1,185	1,076	1,517	1,461	1,429	2,071	2,374	2,446	2,174	2,103	1,927	1,808	1,792	2,023	1,946
Transportation and materials moving	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	5	8	11	16	12
Visual and performing arts	621	620	654	722	838	1,067	1,167	1,383	1,599	1,646	1,728	1,814	1,778	1,793	1,809	1,774	1,759	1,845
Other and not classified	0	0	0	0	747	7	63	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

1 Includes Agriculture, agriculture operations, and related sciences; and Natural resources and conservation.

2 Includes Business, management, marketing, and related support services; and Personal and culinary services.

3 Includes Engineering technologies and engineering-related fields; Construction trades; and Mechanic and repair technologies/technicians.

NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data are for postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV federal financial aid programs. Includes Ph.D., Ed.D., and comparable degrees at the doctoral level, as well as such degrees as M.D., D.D.S., and law degrees that were classified as first-professional degrees prior to 2010-11. The new Classification of Instructional Programs was initiated in 2009-10. The figures for earlier years have been reclassified when necessary to make them conform to the new taxonomy. To facilitate trend comparisons, certain aggregations have been made of the degree fields as reported in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Some data have been revised from previously published figures.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred" surveys, 1970-71 through 1985-86; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Completions Survey" (IPEDS-C:91 and 96); and IPEDS Fall 2001 through Fall 2019, Completions component. (This table was prepared June 2020.)