Figure

II-28a: Median Age of New Doctorate Recipients, by Academic Field, 1994–2020

Data Source and Other Information

* Includes agricultural sciences and natural resources; biological and biomedical sciences; and health sciences.
** Includes earth, computer, and information sciences, as well as mathematics. The latter three fields were reported separately beginning in 2015.

Source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities (Data Tables, Years 1994–2020), https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/doctorates (accessed 2/15/2022). Table numbers for years: 1994 to 1998—A-3a; 1999 to 2001, 2005—18; 2002 to 2004—17; 2006, 2008—20; 2007 (included in 2008 report)—S-20; 2009—24; and 2010 to 2020—27. Data presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).

About the Data

The data on which this indicator is based are collected as part of the federal Survey of Earned Doctorates, a national census of recently graduated doctorate recipients.

Related Indicators

For additional indicators related to the completion of a doctorate in the humanities, see “Debt and Doctoral Study in the Humanities,” “Years to Attainment of a Humanities Doctorate,” “Paying for Doctoral Study in the Humanities,” and “Attrition in Humanities Doctorate Programs.”

For trends in the number of doctorate completions in the humanities, see “Advanced Degrees in the Humanities.”

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The Humanities Indicators and Departmental Survey have been made possible in part by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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