Humanities Degree Completions: An International Comparison
- In 2018, using the pertinent OECD categories (similar to the “historical categories” used elsewhere in the Humanities Indicators), 5.0% of all bachelor’s degrees awarded in the United States were conferred on students in the humanities (Indicator II-60a).1 Among the 35 OECD countries for which data are available, the United States ranked 15th in the proportion of humanities degrees awarded. The mean share of all bachelor’s degrees awarded in the humanities was 5.4%.
- With respect to the share of bachelor’s degrees conferred in the humanities, the United States was most similar to Slovenia, Israel, and Finland. The U.S. share was about seven percentage points smaller than the leaders in conferring humanities degrees, Luxembourg and France, which each awarded approximately 12% of their bachelor’s degrees in humanities disciplines.
- At 3.4%, the United States ranked 24th among OECD nations in the share of master’s and professional degrees awarded to students in the humanities in 2018 (Indicator II-60b). This share was similar to that of Spain and Lithuania, while the mean share among the 35 OECD countries was 4.8%.
- Of the 33 OECD countries that provided data on doctoral degrees (Italy and the Netherlands supply information only for lower-level degrees), the United States ranked 19th in the share of doctoral degrees awarded in the humanities in 2018 (Indicator II-60c). While 7.2% of all doctoral degrees in the United States were awarded in the humanities, the mean share among the countries supplying data was 8.3%.
- From 2015 to 2018, the mean share of degrees awarded in OECD countries to humanities students decreased at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels (Indicator II-60d). Among bachelor’s degree recipients, the humanities’ share shrank 5% (from 5.7% to 5.4%), with just eight of the 35 countries reporting an increase in share. Declines in the humanities’ share of graduate degrees were even larger. The share of master’s degrees contracted 11% (from 5.4% to 4.8% of the degrees), and the share of doctoral degrees decreased 9% (from 9.1% to 8.3%).
Endnotes
- 1A major difference between the Humanities Indicators’ “historical categories” and the OECD conceptualization of the humanities is that the latter includes religion/theology and area studies. See “About the Data” under any of the graphs for a list of the specific disciplines grouped under “humanities” by the OECD.
* The horizontal axis of this graph does not extend to 100%, as this would make it difficult to compare nations. In no nation do humanities degrees constitute more than a small percentage of all degrees. See “About the Data” for the disciplines grouped by the data collector under the heading of “humanities.”
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), OECD.Stat Extracts (online data analysis tool), http://stats.oecd.org. This information is gathered by the OECD from member countries on an annual basis via the “UOE” (UIS/OECD/EUROSTAT) data collection. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).
To arrive at meaningful comparisons among countries that have substantially different educational systems, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) uses the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), which was created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the early 1970s to facilitate efforts to aggregate and present international education statistics.
The disciplines UNESCO includes within the humanities are “religion and theology,” “foreign languages and cultures (living or ‘dead’ languages and their literatures, area studies),” “native languages (current or vernacular language and its literature),” and “other humanities (interpretation and translation, linguistics, comparative literature, history, archeology, philosophy, ethics).” (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], “International Standard Classification of Education [ISCED] 2011” [Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2012], 73).
Data were obtained by navigating to http://stats.oecd.org and selecting on the left sidebar menu “Education and Training” > “Education at a Glance” > “Students, access to education and participation” > “Graduates by Field.” Humanities Indicator staff further customized and then exported the data extract using the controls below the page title.
* The horizontal axis of this graph does not extend to 100%, as this would make it difficult to compare nations. In no nation do humanities degrees constitute more than a small percentage of all degrees. Percentages include professional practice doctorates. See “About the Data” for the disciplines grouped by the data collector under the heading of “humanities.”
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), OECD.Stat Extracts (online data analysis tool), http://stats.oecd.org. This information is gathered by the OECD from member countries on an annual basis via the “UOE” (UIS/OECD/EUROSTAT) data collection. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).
To arrive at meaningful comparisons among countries that have substantially different educational systems, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) uses the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), which was created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the early 1970s to facilitate efforts to aggregate and present international education statistics.
The disciplines UNESCO includes within the humanities are “religion and theology,” “foreign languages and cultures (living or ‘dead’ languages and their literatures, area studies),” “native languages (current or vernacular language and its literature),” and “other humanities (interpretation and translation, linguistics, comparative literature, history, archeology, philosophy, ethics).” (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], “International Standard Classification of Education [ISCED] 2011” [Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2012], 73).
Data were obtained by navigating to http://stats.oecd.org and selecting on the left sidebar menu “Education and Training” > “Education at a Glance” > “Students, access to education and participation” > “Graduates by Field.” Humanities Indicator staff further customized and then exported the data extract using the controls below the page title.
* The horizontal axis of this graph does not extend to 100%, as this would make it difficult to compare nations. In no nation do humanities degrees constitute more than a small percentage of all degrees. Percentages exclude professional practice doctorates (these are included in the “Masters & Professional Degree” category). See “About the Data” for the disciplines grouped by the data collector under the heading of “humanities.”
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), OECD.Stat Extracts (online data analysis tool), http://stats.oecd.org. This information is gathered by the OECD from member countries on an annual basis via the “UOE” (UIS/OECD/EUROSTAT) data collection. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).
To arrive at meaningful comparisons among countries that have substantially different educational systems, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) uses the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), which was created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the early 1970s to facilitate efforts to aggregate and present international education statistics.
The disciplines UNESCO includes within the humanities are “religion and theology,” “foreign languages and cultures (living or ‘dead’ languages and their literatures, area studies),” “native languages (current or vernacular language and its literature),” and “other humanities (interpretation and translation, linguistics, comparative literature, history, archeology, philosophy, ethics).” (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], “International Standard Classification of Education [ISCED] 2011” [Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2012], 73).
Data were obtained by navigating to http://stats.oecd.org and selecting on the left sidebar menu “Education and Training” > “Education at a Glance” > “Students, access to education and participation” > “Graduates by Field.” Humanities Indicator staff further customized and then exported the data extract using the controls below the page title.
