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Digest of Education Statistics
2021 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 310.10. Number of U.S. students studying abroad and percentage distribution, by sex, race/ethnicity, and other selected characteristics: Selected years, 2000-01 through 2019–20
Sex, race/ethnicity, and other selected characteristics 2000-01 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-201 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
  Number of students
Total 154,168 262,416 260,327 270,604 273,996 283,332 289,408 304,467 313,415 325,339 332,727 341,751 347,099 162,633
  Percentage distribution of students

Sex
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Male 35.0 34.9 35.8 36.5 35.6 35.2 34.7 34.7 33.4 33.5 32.7 33.0 32.7 32.6
Female 65.0 65.1 64.2 63.5 64.4 64.8 65.3 65.3 66.6 66.5 67.3 67.0 67.3 67.4

Race/ethnicity
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
White 84.3 81.8 80.5 78.7 77.8 76.4 76.3 74.3 72.9 71.6 70.8 70.0 68.7 70.0
Black 3.5 4.0 4.2 4.7 4.8 5.3 5.3 5.6 5.6 5.9 6.1 6.1 6.4 5.5
Hispanic 5.4 5.9 6.0 6.4 6.9 7.6 7.6 8.3 8.8 9.7 10.2 10.6 10.9 10.6
Asian/Pacific Islander 5.4 6.6 7.3 7.9 7.9 7.7 7.3 7.7 8.1 8.4 8.2 8.4 8.9 8.6
American Indian/Alaska Native 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5
Two or more races 0.9 1.2 1.6 1.9 2.1 2.5 3.0 3.6 4.1 3.9 4.3 4.4 4.7 4.8

Academic level
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Associate's 0.9 2.2 1.1 0.1 0.2 1.1 1.1 1.7 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.9 0.8
Freshman 3.1 3.5 3.4 3.5 3.3 3.3 3.8 3.9 3.9 3.6 4.0 4.2 4.1 2.7
Sophomore 14.0 13.1 13.9 13.2 12.6 13.0 13.7 13.1 13.1 12.7 13.2 12.8 13.2 12.3
Junior 38.9 35.9 36.8 35.8 35.8 36.0 34.7 33.9 33.1 32.9 33.0 33.0 33.4 42.7
Senior 20.0 21.3 21.6 21.8 23.4 24.4 24.7 25.3 26.4 27.7 27.4 28.2 29.4 27.0
Bachelor's, unspecified 13.5 13.4 11.3 11.0 10.3 8.4 8.4 9.1 9.3 9.1 8.6 7.8 6.2 5.1
Master's or higher 8.3 10.5 11.8 13.6 13.5 13.5 13.5 12.7 12.1 12.1 12.3 12.1 11.6 9.3
Other academic level 1.1 0.1 # 1.0 0.9 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1

Host region
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Sub-Saharan Africa2  2.5 3.6 4.2 4.2 4.3 4.5 4.6 4.4 3.4 3.9 4.0 4.2 3.9 3.3
Asia3  6.0 11.1 11.4 12.0 11.7 12.4 12.4 11.9 11.4 11.1 11.6 11.2 11.7 9.1
Europe4  63.3 56.3 54.5 53.5 54.6 53.3 53.3 53.3 54.5 54.4 54.4 54.9 55.7 57.9
Latin America5  14.5 15.3 15.4 15.0 14.6 15.8 15.7 16.2 16.0 16.3 15.5 14.9 13.8 13.4
Middle East and North Africa2,4  1.6 2.2 2.5 3.1 2.6 2.5 2.2 2.1 2.2 1.9 2.1 2.1 2.3 3.2
North America5,6  0.7 0.4 0.5 0.7 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.5
Oceania 6.0 5.3 5.5 5.0 4.8 4.5 4.0 3.9 4.0 4.2 4.4 4.3 4.4 7.1
Multiple destinations 5.6 5.7 6.0 6.5 6.8 6.4 7.3 7.7 7.9 7.6 7.5 7.9 7.5 5.4

Duration of stay
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Summer term 33.7 38.1 35.8 37.8 37.7 37.1 37.8 38.1 39.0 38.0 38.5 38.5 38.6 0.9
One semester 38.5 35.5 37.3 35.8 34.5 35.0 33.6 31.9 31.8 31.9 30.7 30.3 30.7 62.5
8 weeks or less during
   academic year
7.4 11.0 11.7 11.9 13.3 14.4 15.3 16.5 16.7 17.4 18.8 19.0 19.3 15.9
January term 7.0 7.2 7.0 6.9 7.1 7.0 7.1 7.5 7.4 7.4 7.1 7.0 6.9 13.9
Academic year 7.3 4.1 4.1 3.8 3.7 3.2 3.1 2.9 2.5 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.1 3.5
One quarter 4.1 3.4 3.3 3.1 3.0 2.5 2.4 2.4 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.4 1.8 2.8
Two quarters 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.6 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3
Calendar year 0.6 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2
Other 0.8 # 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.3 # 0.1 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.1
#Rounds to zero.
1 Data were collected for the entire 2019-20 school year, which coincides with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
2 North Africa was combined with the Middle East to create the "Middle East and North Africa" category as of 2011-12, and the former "Africa" category was replaced by "Sub-Saharan Africa" (which excludes North Africa). Data for years prior to 2011-12 have been revised for comparability.
3 Asia excludes the Middle Eastern countries (Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen).
4 Cyprus and Turkey were classified as being in the Middle East prior to 2004-05 but in Europe for 2004-05 and later years. Data for 2000-01 have been revised for comparability.
5 Mexico and Central America are included in Latin America, not in North America.
6 Includes Antarctica.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.
SOURCE: Institute of International Education, Open Doors: Report on International Educational Exchange, selected years, 2001 through 2020. (This table was prepared February 2022.)

2021 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest