The number of students earning an undergraduate degree in philosophy in the United States declined for the third year in a row.
According to new data from Humanities Indicators, a project of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, US universities and colleges issued 5,763 bachelor’s degrees in philosophy in 2024, compared with 5,998 in 2023, 6380 in 2022, and 6,757 in 2021.
During the same period of time, the share of all bachelor’s degrees that went to students majoring in any humanities fields dropped from 9.3% to 8.4%, a drop of around 9%.
The full Humanities Indicators report is here.
That seems comparable to the other fields on the list. It would be interesting to see this in comparison to all degrees conferred.
It’s also worth noting that all these years are years that would be affected by COVID in some way.
Those who track the numbers in their own departments may have a similar comment: since these are “completions”, the downturn in 2024 likely reflects COVID-impacted numbers. My own department showed a dip in our number of majors during COVID that recovered starting in 2023 and onward (and is now stable or slightly increasing). It’s important to do 10-year ranges (with 2025 and current completions) when talking about this sort of thing with admins.