What influences the path to the doctorate?

Parental education

By race and ethnicity

The pattern of rising parental educational attainment is visible among all races and ethnicities for doctorate recipients who are U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Nonetheless, doctorate recipients from underrepresented minority groups are less likely to have at least one parent with a bachelor's degree than are Asian or white doctorate recipients.

In 2016, over half of American Indian or Alaska Native and Hispanic or Latino doctorate recipients and about half of black or African American recipients belonged to families in which at least one parent had a bachelor's degree or higher. In comparison, over 70% of Asian and white doctorate recipients came from families having at least one parent who had a bachelor's degree or higher.

Parental educational attainment of U.S. citizen or permanent resident doctorate recipients, by ethnicity and race: 1996–2016

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(Percent having at least one parent with a bachelor's degree or higher)
Year All races and ethnicities Hispanic or Latino Not Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity not reported
American Indian or Alaska Native Asian Black or African American White Two or more races Other race or race not reported
1996 59.3 48.9 52.9 59.3 34.5 61.2 na 62.6 63.1
1997 61.4 49.6 45.8 62.5 37.0 63.3 na 65.6 75.7
1998 62.3 48.0 50.0 65.0 36.3 64.4 na 66.8 65.3
1999 63.2 46.4 37.9 65.2 39.0 65.7 na 67.5 67.7
2000 63.6 48.7 44.3 65.7 38.1 66.0 na 70.4 73.4
2001 64.5 49.3 43.4 70.6 41.7 66.5 66.6 71.0 59.5
2002 65.0 49.4 43.9 70.5 42.1 67.4 66.5 65.5 62.6
2003 65.4 50.7 41.7 71.9 42.2 67.6 66.6 69.0 66.3
2004 65.8 50.7 40.3 71.8 42.9 68.2 66.7 72.9 62.4
2005 66.3 53.0 38.6 72.4 44.5 68.4 66.4 73.2 65.8
2006 67.0 49.4 37.1 72.1 45.3 69.3 69.6 70.9 69.4
2007 67.8 53.5 48.0 72.5 48.3 70.1 68.6 71.5 64.3
2008 68.2 51.8 47.2 72.6 44.8 70.9 70.6 71.5 64.9
2009 68.8 53.4 43.8 73.0 46.6 71.4 68.9 69.7 75.5
2010 70.4 56.4 54.5 70.8 49.1 73.2 70.9 71.4 73.0
2011 70.9 55.8 52.2 71.8 52.6 73.5 73.1 68.1 70.9
2012 71.6 57.0 42.4 72.8 47.9 74.7 73.8 77.9 73.6
2013 72.0 56.9 50.9 72.5 49.3 75.0 76.2 79.6 69.3
2014 72.5 58.4 47.9 72.8 50.7 75.6 73.2 77.6 74.3
2015 72.6 58.2 50.4 71.7 49.9 76.2 72.1 74.4 64.2
2016 72.5 57.3 54.9 72.3 49.4 76.0 73.0 73.3 71.1