Doctorates in science and engineering (S&E) fields are a growing share of all doctorates awarded. Every broad S&E field except for psychology and social sciences increased both its number and share of all doctorates over the past 2 decades. Psychology and social sciences increased in the number of doctorate recipients, but its share of all doctorates declined.^{​For details on the number of doctorate recipients by field, please see detailed table 12.}
Engineering had the largest growth among S&E fields, from 13% of all doctorates in 2000 to 19% in 2020 (figure 7).

Within non-S&E fields, the number of doctorates awarded in education and in humanities and arts declined between 2000 and 2020, leading to a large, steady drop in the relative share of doctorates in those fields.^{​Regarding the decline in the field of education, see details in the “Time series data changes” in the section Data Source.}
The number of doctorates in other non-S&E fields—such as business management and communication—increased,^{​For details on the number of doctorate recipients by field, see detailed table 12.}
but the share of these doctorates remained fairly level (figure 8).

Women’s share of doctorates awarded has grown over the past 2 decades in all broad fields of study except for humanities and arts where it remained the same. In 2020, women earned 49% or more of the doctorates awarded in life sciences, psychology and social sciences, education, humanities and arts, and other non-S&E fields.

Women earned only between about a quarter and a third of the doctorates awarded in engineering, in mathematics and computer sciences, and in physical sciences and earth sciences in 2020. However, women’s shares of doctorates in these fields have grown over the past 20 years. From 2000 to 2020, the proportion of female doctorates grew considerably in life sciences (from 47% to 56%), in engineering (from 16% to 25%), and in physical sciences and earth sciences (from 25% to 33%). In psychology and social sciences and in mathematics and computer sciences, women’s share grew by 4 to 5 percentage points during this period (figure 11).

The growth or decline in the share of women doctorate recipients in different fields does not always track with the overall growth of those fields. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of doctorate recipients in all fields grew by 15% while the share of women declined by nearly 1 percentage point (figure 12).^{​For more details, see detailed table 15.}

From 2010 to 2020, the proportion of female doctorate recipients increased between 3 and 6 percentage points in four fields where the overall numbers of doctorates increased: industrial and manufacturing engineering; agricultural science and natural resources; mechanical engineering; and aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering. Women’s share of doctorates also increased about 7 percentage points in anthropology, a field that declined in the overall number of doctorates awarded.

Despite the growth in the number of doctorate recipients in the health sciences and in teaching fields in the past 10 years, women’s shares of doctorates in these fields declined. The proportion of female doctorate recipients also declined in political science and government, history, and foreign languages and literature—fields in which the number of doctorates declined as well.