Table 1 Total number of doctorates awarded from 1973 to 2016, along with calculated percentages of race, ethnicity and gender for the most recent year in the dataset

From: No progress on diversity in 40 years

 

Earth

Ocean

Atmospheric

All geosciences

2016 comparative percentages

R&E

Cumulative number

Per cent in 2016

Cumulative number

Per cent in 2016

Cumulative number

Per cent in 2016

Cumulative number

Per cent in 2016

All S&E PhDs c

US population d

White

12,279

86

4,435

87

2,856

75

19,570

85

73

61

Asian

622

5

237

6

324

11

1,183

6

10

6

Hispanic or Latino

335

4

198

4

95

9

628

5

7

18

Black

115

1

58

0

59

4

232

1

6

12

Native American

52

1

15

0

7

1

74

1

<1

1

Other or unknown

523

<1

145

<1

95

0

763

<1

1

<1

Two or more racesa

92

3

50

3

22

1

164

3

3

2

Total

14,018

100

5,138

100

3,458

100

22,614

100

100

100

Per cent URMb

 

6

 

4

 

13

 

6

13

31

Gender

Per cent over all years

Per cent in 2016

Per cent over all years

Per cent in 2016

Per cent over all years

Per cent in 2016

Per cent over all years

Per cent in 2016

All S&E PhDs c

US population d

Per cent male (all R&Es)

74

56

65

50

78

62

73

55

53

49

Per cent female (all R&Es)

26

44

35

50

22

38

27

45

47

51

  1. aOnly recorded since 2001. bURM totals only include Hispanic or Latino, Black and Native American individuals. cSource: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics4. dSource: Kaiser Family Foundation6. R&E, race and ethnicity; S&E, science and engineering; URM, underrepresented minority.