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SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING DEGREES. 88 TOTAL BACHELORS DEGREES: S&E AND OTHER FIELDS During the 1960s and early 1970s, the number of bachelors degrees awarded annually nearly tripled, from 340 thousand in 1958 to 950 thousand in 1974, then stabilized at 1 million in the late 1980s. The number of science and engineering bachelors degrees increased, from 120 thousand in 1958 to 340 thousand in 1974, and then stabilized at about 375 thousand in the late 1980s. For the past three decades, the share of degrees awarded in the sciences and engineering has remained generally steady, increasing slightly from 34 percent of all bachelors degrees in 1958 to 37 percent in the late-1980s. Figure 2-86: Bachelors Degrees Awarded in S&E and Other Fields Figure 2-87: Distribution of Bachelors Degrees Awarded in S&E and Other Fields NOTE: Data series within the figures are not overlapped; top line represents total. DEFINITION OF TERMS: Science/Engineering includes bachelors degrees in life sciences, including agricultural, biological, medical, and other health sciences; physical sciences, including astronomy, chemistry, and physics; engineering, including aeronautical and astronautical, chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering; environmental sciences, including oceanography, atmospheric and earth sciences; mathematics and computer science, including all fields of mathematics and computer-related sciences; and social and other including economics, political science, psychology, sociology. Other Fields includes all bachelors degrees other than those awarded in the sciences and engineering. SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Division of Policy Research and Analysis. Database: CASPAR. Some of the data within this database are estimates, incorporated where there are discontinuities within data series or gaps in data collection. Primary data source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS): Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred.