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Change in Percentage of Bachelor’s and Associate Degrees Completed in the Humanities, 1987-2015

Almanac 2017

August 13, 2017

The proportion of associate degrees that were earned in the humanities grew fairly steadily from 1987 to 2015. Meanwhile, the share of bachelor’s degrees in the humanities peaked in 1992 and 1993 and declined from 2005 to 2015. Even so, the percentage of bachelor’s degrees in the humanities in 2015 was close to what it was in 1987.

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Return to the Almanac home page, or go to the Profession, Students, Finance, or States section. To purchase a copy of the Almanac in print or as a downloadable interactive PDF, visit the Chronicle Store.

Year	Bachelor’s	Associate
1987	12.0%	25.7%
1988	12.5%	26.9%
1989	13.3%	28.2%
1990	14.0%	29.5%
1991	14.5%	29.8%
1992	15.1%	31.0%
1993	15.1%	31.1%
1994	14.6%	30.8%
1995	14.4%	32.1%
1996	14.3%	33.1%
1997	14.2%	33.9%
1998	14.3%	34.7%
1999	14.4%	34.8%
2000	14.3%	35.0%
2001	14.6%	36.1%
2002	14.7%	37.8%
2003	14.8%	36.6%
2004	14.9%	37.7%
2005	15.0%	37.5%
2006	14.9%	37.6%
2007	14.9%	37.5%
2008	14.7%	36.9%
2009	14.6%	36.6%
2010	14.3%	36.8%
2011	13.9%	36.4%
2012	13.5%	38.0%
2013	13.1%	39.0%
2014	12.7%	40.8%
2015	11.9%	41.8%

Note: Humanities include English language and literature; foreign languages and literatures; history; philosophy; religion; ethnic, gender, and cultural studies; American studies and area studies; archaeology; jurisprudence; and some arts and interdisciplinary studies. Bachelor’s-degree completions are based on first majors only. At the associate level, most of the degrees in the humanities were identified by the conferring institutions as being in “liberal arts” or “liberal studies.” More data are available at www.humanitiesindicators.org.

Source: Analysis of U.S. Department of Education data by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators</small></p>