Degree Completions in the Humanities as a Percentage of All Degree Completions at That Level, 1987–2013

After almost two decades in which the share of all new bachelor’s degrees conferred on students in the humanities had been stable, the percentage dropped from 12% in 2007 to approximately 10% in 2013.

The shares of degrees awarded to humanities students at other levels each followed different trajectories from 1987 to 2013. The share of degrees conferred at the master’s degree level has been in an extended period of gradual decline (from a high of 4.6% in 1993 to 3.2% in 2013). Over the same span, the share at the doctoral level peaked at 10.5% in 2000, fell as low as 7.3% in 2007, and then rose to 8.4% in 2012 before slipping to 8.2% in 2013.