Bachelor's degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by field of study: Selected academic years, 1970-71 through 2021-22

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Table 322.10.Bachelor's degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by field of study: Selected academic years, 1970-71 through 2021-22
Field of study	1970-71	1975-76	1980-81	1985-86	1990-91	1995-96	2000-01	2005-06	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Total	839,730	925,746	935,140	987,823	1,094,538	1,164,792	1,244,171	1,485,104	1,840,381	1,870,150	1,894,969	1,920,750	1,956,114	1,980,665	2,013,086	2,038,682	2,066,463	2,015,035
Agriculture and natural resources¹	12,674	19,402	21,886	17,191	13,363	21,757	23,766	23,497	34,304	35,953	37,028	37,827	38,782	40,334	41,373	41,858	41,921	40,675
Architecture and related services	5,570	9,146	9,455	9,119	9,781	8,352	8,480	9,515	9,757	9,149	9,090	8,825	8,579	8,464	8,806	9,045	9,296	9,462
Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies	2,579	3,577	2,887	3,021	4,776	5,633	6,160	7,878	8,850	8,275	7,783	7,840	7,720	7,717	7,733	7,771	7,390	6,658
Biological and biomedical sciences	35,705	54,154	43,078	38,395	39,482	61,014	60,576	70,602	100,397	104,657	109,904	113,794	116,768	118,661	121,233	126,616	131,515	131,462
Business²	115,396	143,171	200,521	236,700	249,165	226,623	263,515	318,043	360,887	358,132	363,741	371,690	381,109	386,240	390,490	387,881	391,352	375,418

Communication, journalism, and related programs	10,324	20,045	29,428	41,666	51,650	47,320	58,013	73,658	84,818	87,612	90,658	92,551	93,794	92,289	92,528	91,763	90,761	86,043
Communications technologies	478	1,237	1,854	1,479	1,397	853	1,178	2,987	4,987	4,991	5,135	4,824	4,615	4,231	4,444	4,424	4,556	4,851
Computer and information sciences and support services	2,388	5,652	15,121	42,337	25,159	24,506	44,142	47,702	50,961	55,271	59,586	64,402	71,416	79,597	88,638	97,054	104,883	108,503
Education	176,307	154,437	108,074	87,147	110,807	105,384	105,458	107,235	104,698	98,838	91,596	87,221	85,130	82,599	83,952	85,052	89,477	89,410
Engineering	45,034	38,733	63,642	77,391	62,448	62,168	58,209	66,841	85,987	92,169	97,852	106,789	115,671	121,953	126,692	128,337	126,042	123,017

Engineering technologies³	5,148	7,943	11,713	19,731	17,303	15,829	14,660	14,565	17,010	16,807	17,253	17,159	18,119	18,728	19,620	19,788	19,004	18,405
English language and literature/letters	63,914	41,452	31,922	34,083	51,064	49,928	50,569	55,094	52,401	50,464	45,851	42,797	41,314	40,002	39,344	38,049	35,764	33,429
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	11,167	17,409	18,370	13,847	13,920	14,353	16,421	20,775	23,930	24,689	24,584	25,389	25,080	24,357	23,956	23,248	22,319	20,630
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	20,988	17,068	11,638	11,550	13,937	14,832	16,128	19,393	21,647	20,332	19,493	18,436	17,643	16,957	16,605	16,309	15,514	13,912
Health professions and related programs	25,221	53,885	63,665	64,941	59,636	85,755	75,537	91,528	180,437	197,949	215,478	228,075	236,931	243,876	250,650	257,327	267,993	263,765

Homeland security, law enforcement, and firefighting	2,045	12,507	13,707	12,704	16,806	24,810	25,211	35,319	60,264	62,416	62,723	61,159	59,553	58,121	57,333	57,044	58,006	56,901
Legal professions and studies	545	531	776	1,223	1,827	2,123	1,991	3,302	4,425	4,513	4,420	4,243	4,272	4,242	4,235	4,262	4,585	4,444
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities	7,481	18,855	21,643	21,336	30,526	33,997	37,962	44,898	46,790	45,281	43,649	43,669	44,103	44,262	44,222	42,922	41,827	37,887
Library science	1,013	843	375	155	90	58	52	76	102	127	99	85	99	81	99	118	119	135
Mathematics and statistics	24,801	15,984	11,078	16,122	14,393	12,713	11,171	14,760	20,449	20,987	21,854	22,778	24,075	25,253	26,155	27,227	27,106	26,212

Military technologies and applied sciences	357	952	42	255	183	7	21	33	105	185	276	358	469	655	767	1,156	1,524	1,602
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	6,324	13,709	12,986	13,754	17,774	26,885	26,478	30,583	47,658	48,392	47,556	48,833	49,631	51,982	53,303	55,037	54,615	52,573
Parks, recreation, leisure, fitness, and kinesiology	1,621	5,182	5,729	4,623	4,315	12,974	17,948	25,489	42,628	46,047	49,008	50,912	53,292	53,887	53,540	53,749	54,268	52,776
Philosophy and religious studies	8,149	8,447	6,776	6,396	7,423	7,900	9,442	12,841	14,338	13,776	12,925	12,133	11,740	11,872	11,981	11,898	11,989	11,230
Physical sciences and science technologies	21,410	21,458	23,936	21,711	16,334	19,716	18,025	20,521	28,053	29,307	30,042	30,483	31,272	31,542	31,155	30,743	29,236	28,301

Precision production	0	0	0	2	2	12	31	55	36	37	48	51	32	45	47	39	28	12
Psychology	38,187	50,278	41,068	40,628	58,655	73,416	73,645	88,132	114,446	117,312	117,573	117,447	116,859	116,436	116,550	119,989	126,950	129,609
Public administration and social services	5,466	15,440	16,707	11,887	14,350	19,849	19,447	21,986	31,950	33,483	34,364	34,433	35,461	35,637	35,104	34,352	34,817	33,429
Social sciences and history	155,324	126,396	100,513	93,840	125,107	126,479	128,036	161,468	177,767	173,132	166,971	161,211	159,097	159,962	160,678	161,219	160,851	151,109
Theology and religious vocations	3,720	5,490	5,808	5,510	4,799	4,933	6,220	7,687	7,839	7,865	7,859	7,826	7,489	7,252	7,061	6,855	6,735	6,394

Transportation and materials moving	0	225	263	1,838	2,622	3,561	3,748	5,349	4,661	4,588	4,730	4,531	4,708	4,924	5,051	5,251	5,993	6,540
Visual and performing arts	30,394	42,138	40,479	37,241	42,186	49,296	61,148	83,292	97,799	97,414	95,840	92,979	91,291	88,507	89,741	92,299	90,027	90,241
Other and not classified	0	0	0	0	13,258	1,756	783	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
¹Includes Agricultural, animal, plant, veterinary science, and related fields; and Natural resources and conservation.
²Includes Business, management, marketing, and related support services; and Culinary, entertainment, and personal services.
³Includes Engineering technologies and engineering-related fields; Construction trades; and Mechanic and repair technologies/technicians.
NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data are for postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV federal financial aid programs and U.S. service academies. Data in this table are based on the 2020 Classification of Instructional Programs. To facilitate trend comparisons, certain aggregations have been made of the degree fields as reported in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Some data have been revised from previously published figures.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred" surveys, 1970-71 through 1985-86; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Completions Survey" (IPEDS-C:91-99); and IPEDS, Completions component, Fall 2000 through Fall 2021 (final data) and Fall 2022 (provisional data). (This table was prepared September 2023.)

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