Table 324.10.

Doctor's degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by field of study: Selected academic years, 1970-71 through 2020-21

Field of study	1970-71	1975-76	1980-81	1985-86	1990-91	1995-96	2000-01	2005-06	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
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	170,217	175,026	177,587	178,548	178,134	181,357	183,734	187,577	190,133	194,059
Agriculture and natural resources1	2,384	2,501	3,062	3,529	3,319	3,500	3,483	3,800	4,185	4,264	4,515	4,870	4,833	4,800	4,963	4,954	4,884	4,869
Architecture and related services	36	82	93	73	135	141	153	201	255	247	247	272	245	291	250	255	252	255
Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies	143	186	161	156	159	183	216	226	302	291	336	312	323	349	335	370	334	268
Biological and biomedical sciences	3,603	3,347	3,640	3,405	4,152	5,250	5,225	6,162	7,935	7,939	8,302	8,053	7,939	8,087	8,218	7,978	7,899	7,486
Business2	774	906	808	923	1,185	1,366	1,180	1,711	2,538	2,828	3,039	3,116	3,325	3,328	3,338	3,640	3,443	3,711
Communication, journalism, and related programs	145	196	171	212	259	338	368	461	563	612	611	644	629	615	666	583	602	532
Communications technologies	0	8	11	6	13	7	2	3	4	0	3	0	4	0	0	0	1	0
Computer and information sciences and support services	128	244	252	344	676	869	768	1,416	1,698	1,834	1,982	1,998	1,989	1,982	2,017	2,224	2,415	2,572
Education	6,041	7,202	7,279	6,610	6,189	6,246	6,284	7,584	10,118	10,572	10,929	11,772	11,838	12,692	12,780	13,020	13,051	13,655
Engineering	3,687	2,872	2,598	3,444	5,316	6,304	5,485	7,243	8,722	9,356	10,010	10,239	10,265	10,371	10,817	11,136	11,144	10,890
Engineering technologies3	1	2	10	12	14	50	62	75	134	111	107	123	133	152	212	215	143	205
English language and literature/letters	1,554	1,514	1,040	895	1,056	1,395	1,330	1,254	1,427	1,377	1,393	1,418	1,402	1,347	1,295	1,274	1,285	1,079
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	123	178	247	307	229	375	354	340	325	351	335	335	374	317	274	285	281	233
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	1,084	1,245	931	768	889	1,020	1,078	1,074	1,231	1,304	1,230	1,243	1,278	1,168	1,213	1,212	1,162	985
Health professions and related programs	14,690	23,694	27,600	29,551	27,708	30,437	36,663	43,071	59,245	61,339	64,339	67,695	70,380	74,454	76,672	79,556	82,466	85,581
Homeland security, law enforcement, and firefighting	1	9	21	21	28	38	44	80	117	147	152	193	205	177	150	250	263	239
Legal professions and studies	17,441	32,369	36,391	35,898	38,035	39,919	38,190	43,569	46,836	47,246	44,169	40,329	37,034	35,123	34,373	34,387	34,450	35,976
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and    humanities	32	162	121	90	70	75	102	84	93	98	90	96	105	95	93	109	114	90
Library science	39	71	71	62	56	53	58	44	60	50	52	44	54	42	54	39	29	12
Mathematics and statistics	1,199	856	728	742	978	1,158	997	1,293	1,669	1,823	1,863	1,801	1,855	1,925	2,010	2,003	2,021	1,958
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	101	156	236	352	306	549	512	600	727	730	769	840	849	854	851	900	990	1,055
Parks, recreation, leisure, fitness, and kinesiology	2	15	42	39	28	104	177	194	288	295	317	311	331	319	298	337	349	326
Philosophy and religious studies	555	556	411	480	464	557	612	604	816	825	716	792	783	759	794	712	694	627
Physical sciences and science technologies	4,324	3,388	3,105	3,521	4,248	4,589	3,968	4,642	5,370	5,514	5,806	5,823	6,057	6,027	6,181	6,298	5,969	5,709
Psychology	2,144	3,157	3,576	3,593	3,932	4,141	5,091	4,921	5,936	6,326	6,634	6,583	6,540	6,702	6,275	6,215	6,327	6,363
Public administration and social services	174	292	362	382	430	499	574	704	890	979	1,047	1,123	1,066	1,116	1,157	1,287	1,409	1,435
Social sciences and history	3,660	4,157	3,122	2,955	3,012	3,760	3,930	3,914	4,597	4,610	4,724	4,828	4,706	4,706	4,676	4,544	4,436	4,160
Theology and religious vocations	312	1,022	1,273	1,185	1,076	1,510	1,449	1,403	2,408	2,143	2,085	1,897	1,775	1,774	1,997	1,937	1,984	2,100
Transportation and materials moving	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	5	8	11	16	12	20	20
Visual and performing arts	621	620	654	722	838	1,067	1,167	1,383	1,728	1,814	1,778	1,793	1,809	1,774	1,759	1,845	1,716	1,668
Other and not classified	0	0	0	0	747	7	63	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

1Includes Agricultural, animal, plant, veterinary science, and related fields; and Natural resources and conservation.

2Includes Business, management, marketing, and related support services; and Culinary, entertainment, and personal services.

3Includes 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. Data in this table are based on the 2020 Classification of Instructional Programs. 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 2021, Completions component. (This table was prepared September 2022.)