Data on the entire range of humanities disciplines are available only back to 1987, but an extended historical perspective is available for certain disciplines (classical studies, English language and literature, history, languages and literatures other than English, linguistics, and philosophy), which are labeled “Historical Categories” on the graphs.

• In 2022, the number of master’s and professional degrees awarded in the entire range of humanities disciplines fell slightly from the previous year (to 27,137 degrees), but the number was down 16.7% from its recent peak in 2012, even with a post-COVID rebound (Indicator II-20a). In comparison, the total number of master’s and professional degrees conferred over that same 10-year span increased 16.6% (to 1,017,833 degrees).
• The number of doctoral degrees awarded in the humanities increased 9.0% from 2021 to 2022, with 5,110 doctorates awarded by the field (Indicator II-20b). This was a partial rebound from a sharp COVID-related drop in the previous year.1 Even after the small one-year increase, the number of humanities PhDs awarded in 2022 was down 14.0% from the recent high for the field in 2015. As with master’s degrees, the trend for all doctoral degrees was in the opposite direction, with the total number of PhD completions increasing 16% from 2015 to 2022.
• The longer-term trend in PhD completions shows that the number of humanities doctoral degrees awarded annually increased almost every year from 1988 to 2000, rising from 3,110 to 5,015. Degree completions then declined somewhat into the mid-2000s before starting to climb again. In 2015 the number of doctorate completions reached an apex of 5,942.
• For the historical categories, the greatest postwar increase in the number of graduate-level degrees awarded occurred from 1955 to the early 1970s, with a surge of more than 400% over that time span at both the master’s and doctoral level. The number of master’s degrees peaked at 21,542 in 1971, while the number of doctorates peaked at 4,708 in 1973. The number of advanced degrees conferred in the historical categories then tumbled. By the mid-to-late 1980s, humanities programs were awarding fewer than half as many postbaccalaureate degrees.
• The decline in advanced humanities degrees in the historical categories reversed in the late 1980s. By 1994 the number of master’s degrees had risen to 69% of the 1971 peak. Following a decline starting in the late 1990s, master’s degree completions picked up again in 2002 and increased almost every year until 2012 (to 19,151) but then declined through 2020. The years 2021 and 2022 saw modest increases, bringing the count to 15,619.
• The trend in doctorate completions generally followed the same trajectory as master’s degrees (albeit with a slight lag in time). Humanities doctorates in the historical categories rebounded from the lows of the late 1980s to a high of 3,928 degrees in 1998. But several years of marked declines over the next decade brought the number back down to just 3,483 in 2007. By 2011, however, the number had risen back above 4,000 degrees (for the first time since 1976). The number hovered around 4,200 through 2016 but declined in almost every subsequent year through 2021. An uptick in 2022 brought the number to 3,451.
• Almost every humanities discipline tracked in these indicators experienced an increase in the number of master’s and doctoral degrees completed annually from 2000 to 2012 (Indicator II-20c and Indicator II-20d). Two-thirds of the disciplines then experienced a decline in completions at the master’s degree level, and seven of them (classical studies, English, general humanities/liberal studies, history, languages and literatures other than English, linguistics, and religion) had declines of 15% or more. Communication, philosophy, and study of the arts were the only large disciplines (those awarding more than 1,000 degrees) to see an increase in the number of degrees conferred. The increases ranged from a slight 1% rise in communication to 6% and 7% increases for philosophy and study of the arts.
• At the doctoral level, most of the same disciplines had modest increases in doctoral degrees until 2015 before a gradual and then accelerating decline. From 2015 to 2022, the number of doctoral degrees awarded in most disciplines fell by 10% or more. Only three humanities disciplines recorded an increase in the number of doctoral degrees from 2015 to 2022: area studies; cultural, ethnic, and gender studies; and general studies/liberal arts.

Endnotes

• 1See the report from the Survey of Earned Doctorates for 2021 for additional information about the impact of the pandemic on degree completions that year. “Special Focus: COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts on Doctorate Recipients,” In Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2021 (Washington, DC: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, December 5, 2022), https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf23300/report/special-focus-covid-19-pandemic-impacts-on-doctorate-recipients.