Humanities Indicators, a project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has released new degree-specific data on various humanities subjects, including philosophy. Here are some of the findings. All data and images below are from the Humanities Indicators site.

Regarding degree completion:

• “In 2014, philosophy accounted for 0.42% of the approximately 1.7 million bachelor’s degrees conferred by U.S. institutions of higher learning. The share has been falling since 2006 (from a high of 0.51%).”
• “Master’s degree completions in philosophy approximately doubled from 1987 to 2009 (rising from 536 to 1,064), before briefly falling below 1,000 in 2011 and then rising to 1,071 degrees in 2014.”
• “The number of doctorates completed in philosophy grew incrementally from 1987 to the turn of the century, surged from 2008 to 2012, and then fell by more than 13% from 2012 to 2014”

Regarding racial and ethnic distribution of degrees in philosophy:

• “In 2014, traditionally underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities received 17.0% of all bachelor’s degrees in philosophy… This percentage represents an increase of eight percentage points from 1995.”
• “At the master’s level, traditionally underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities earned 10.2% of philosophy degrees awarded in 2014, up from 6.5% in 1995.”
• “In 2014, completions of philosophy doctorates by traditionally underrepresented minorities reached a high of 7.9%, a level nearly three times as great as that observed in 1995.”

Regarding degrees in philosophy awarded to women:

• “In 2014, 31% of philosophy degree completers at the bachelors and doctorate levels were women, and 28% of master’s degree recipients were women.”
• “From 1987 to 2014, women’s share of bachelor’s degrees varied little, fluctuating in the 30–33% range.”

In March Humanities Indicators released information on the proportion of humanities degrees awarded by discipline:

There are many other reports from Humanities Indicators here. And here is an Inside Higher Ed story about the recent batch.

UPDATE: Robert Townsend, Director of the Washington office of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, has authored a post about the philosophy data at the Blog of the APA.