Number of doctorate degrees (PhD degrees) compared internationally

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06 August 2024

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Number of doctorate degrees (PhD degrees) compared internationally

How many PhDs does the Netherlands have per 1,000 inhabitants in the age category 25-34? And in which field of science are they promoted? In this data publication, Dutch PhDs are compared internationally in two ways. First, the relative number of PhDs in the 25-34 age group is shown, as a share of the population in the 25-34 age group. Then the share of promotions per scientific discipline is shown for various countries.

In short

Switzerland has the highest amount of obtained PHD degrees by scientists in the age of 25-34 year per 1,000 inhabitants in the same age category.
In the age category 25-34 year olds, the Netherlands has an average of 1,7 awarded PhD degrees per 1,000 inhabitants (2019).
Most of the PhD degrees are obtained in the scientific fields Health, Nature and Technology.

How many scientists aged 25-34 obtained their doctorate degree in 2019, per 1,000 inhabitants in the same age category?

Data: Download as CSV file

Source: EUROSTAT

Notes: Switzerland and Norway, 2021. United Kingdom, 2019. Ireland: definition difference.

Analysis
The number of doctorate degrees per 1,000 persons aged 25-34 in 2021 is the highest in Switzerland with 3.0 doctorate degrees per 1,000 persons aged 25-34. Germany and the United Kingdom are in the group of 2 doctorate degrees per 1,000 persons in that age group. In 2022, the Netherlands had 1,9 doctorate degrees per 1,000 persons aged 25-34.

In which field of science did these scientists obtain their doctorate?

Export Table Data

	Unknown and generic	Services	Education	Agriculture	ICT	Business administration and law	Social sciences	Arts and humanities	Engineering	Health	Nature
FRA	0	0,008	0,015	0,014	0,053	0,073	0,101	0,134	0,144	0,12	0,34
UK	0	0	0,038	0,011	0,041	0,067	0,084	0,141	0,152	0,159	0,306
CHE	0	0	0,015	0,026	0,023	0,084	0,074	0,071	0,141	0,269	0,297
DEU	0	0,005	0,015	0,031	0,033	0,089	0,056	0,068	0,129	0,286	0,289
ITA	0	0,003	0,012	0,048	0,018	0,1	0,079	0,107	0,232	0,118	0,282
NOR	0	0,02	0,021	0,018	0,01	0,044	0,103	0,072	0,115	0,332	0,265
IRL	0	0,001	0,044	0,023	0,045	0,064	0,138	0,107	0,147	0,183	0,249
ESP	0	0,014	0,049	0,03	0,027	0,057	0,124	0,143	0,137	0,169	0,249
BEL	0	0,004	0,018	0,025	0,004	0,078	0,096	0,094	0,224	0,224	0,232
POL	0	0,024	0,018	0,037	0,013	0,083	0,088	0,211	0,12	0,178	0,214
SWE	0	0,005	0,033	0,018	0,038	0,031	0,061	0,044	0,269	0,297	0,196
AUT	0	0,006	0,02	0,036	0,045	0,118	0,053	0,114	0,249	0,138	0,191
POR	0	0,04	0,095	0,024	0,024	0,08	0,128	0,127	0,188	0,115	0,178
NLD	0	0	0,009	0,071	0,019	0,083	0,093	0,078	0,122	0,34	0,184
FIN	0	0,005	0,052	0,045	0,064	0,069	0,099	0,114	0,155	0,218	0,179
DNK	0	0	0	0,066	0	0	0,093	0,086	0,248	0,341	0,167

Data: Download as CSV file

Source: Eurostat

Notes: Belgium and United Kingdom: 2019. Ireland: definition differs.

Analysis
What is striking in the second graph is that the Netherlands has the largest share of doctorate degrees in the field of health sciences and in the field of agriculture. In addition, the Netherlands has a relatively small share of doctorate degrees in the fields nature, technology, humanities, IT and education.

	2020
CHE	2,9
DEU	2
UK	2
DEN	1,8
NLD	1,7
BEL	1,6
IRL	1,4
AUT	1,3
SWE	1,2
EU-27	1,2
FRA	1,1
LUX	1,1
ESP	1,1
FIN	1,1
NOR	1,1
ITA	0,9
POR	0,7

Number of doctorate degrees (PhD degrees) compared internationally

In short

How many scientists aged 25-34 obtained their doctorate degree in 2019, per 1,000 inhabitants in the same age category?

In which field of science did these scientists obtain their doctorate?

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