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EA - EA Survey 2022: Demographics by David Moss
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: EA Survey 2022: Demographics, published by David Moss on May 15, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
Summary
Gender
Since 2020, the percentage of women in our sample has increased (26.5% vs 29.3%) and the percentage of men decreased (70.5% vs 66.2%).
More recent cohorts of EAs have lower percentages of men than earlier cohorts. This pattern is compatible with either increased recruitment of women, non-binary or other non-male EAs in more recent years and/or men being more likely to drop out of EA.
We examine differences between cohorts across years and find no evidence of significant differences in dropout between men and women.
Race/ethnicity
The percentage of white respondents in our sample (76.26%) has remained fairly flat over time.
More recent cohorts contain lower percentages of white respondents (compatible with either increased recruitment and/or lower dropout of non-white respondents).
We also examine differences between cohorts across years for race/ethnicity, but do not find a consistent pattern.
Age
The average age at which people first get involved in EA (26) has continued to increase.
Education and employment
The percentage of students in the movement has decreased since 2020 and the percentage in employment has increased. However, just over 40% of those who joined EA in the last year were students.
Universities
11.8% of respondents attended the top 10 (QS) ranked universities globally.
Career strategies
The most commonly cited strategy for impact in one’s career was ‘research’ (20.61%) followed by ‘still deciding’ (19.63%).
More than twice as many respondents selected research as selected ‘earning to give’ (10.24%), organization-building skills (ops, management), government and policy, entrepreneurship or community building (<10% each).
Men were significantly more likely to select research and significantly less likely to select organization-building skills. We found no significant differences by race/ethnicity.
Highly engaged EAs were much more likely to select research (25.0% vs 15.1%) and much less likely to select earning to give (5.7% vs 15.7%).
Politics
Respondents continue to be strongly left-leaning politically (63.6% vs 2.4% right-leaning).
Our 2022 sample was slightly more left-leaning than in 2019.
Religion
A large majority of respondents (69.58%) were atheist, agnostic or non-religious (similar to 2019).
Introduction
3567 respondents completed the 2022 EA Survey.
A recurring observation in previous surveys is that the community is relatively lacking in demographic diversity on the dimensions of gender, age, race/ethnicity, and nationality. In this report, we examine the demographic composition of the community, how it has changed over time, and how this is related to different outcomes.
In future posts in this series we will examine differences in experiences of and satisfaction with the community (see posts from 2019 and 2020), and explore the geography of the EA community.
In a forthcoming follow-up survey, we will also be examining experiences related to gender and community satisfaction in more detail.
Basic Demographics
Gender
The percentage of women has slightly increased since 2020 (26.5% to 29.3%), while the percentage of men has slightly decreased (70.5% to 66.2%).
Gender across survey years
Looking across different survey years, we can see that there is now a higher percentage of women in our sample than in the earliest years. In the earliest EA Surveys, we saw just over 75% men, whereas in the most recent survey, we see just over 65%.
Gender across cohorts
Looking across cohorts (EAs who reported first getting involved in a given year), we see that more recent cohorts contain more women than men. This is compatible with either/both increased recruitment of women (or decreased recruitment of men) or disproportionate attrition of...
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Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: EA Survey 2022: Demographics, published by David Moss on May 15, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
Summary
Gender
Since 2020, the percentage of women in our sample has increased (26.5% vs 29.3%) and the percentage of men decreased (70.5% vs 66.2%).
More recent cohorts of EAs have lower percentages of men than earlier cohorts. This pattern is compatible with either increased recruitment of women, non-binary or other non-male EAs in more recent years and/or men being more likely to drop out of EA.
We examine differences between cohorts across years and find no evidence of significant differences in dropout between men and women.
Race/ethnicity
The percentage of white respondents in our sample (76.26%) has remained fairly flat over time.
More recent cohorts contain lower percentages of white respondents (compatible with either increased recruitment and/or lower dropout of non-white respondents).
We also examine differences between cohorts across years for race/ethnicity, but do not find a consistent pattern.
Age
The average age at which people first get involved in EA (26) has continued to increase.
Education and employment
The percentage of students in the movement has decreased since 2020 and the percentage in employment has increased. However, just over 40% of those who joined EA in the last year were students.
Universities
11.8% of respondents attended the top 10 (QS) ranked universities globally.
Career strategies
The most commonly cited strategy for impact in one’s career was ‘research’ (20.61%) followed by ‘still deciding’ (19.63%).
More than twice as many respondents selected research as selected ‘earning to give’ (10.24%), organization-building skills (ops, management), government and policy, entrepreneurship or community building (<10% each).
Men were significantly more likely to select research and significantly less likely to select organization-building skills. We found no significant differences by race/ethnicity.
Highly engaged EAs were much more likely to select research (25.0% vs 15.1%) and much less likely to select earning to give (5.7% vs 15.7%).
Politics
Respondents continue to be strongly left-leaning politically (63.6% vs 2.4% right-leaning).
Our 2022 sample was slightly more left-leaning than in 2019.
Religion
A large majority of respondents (69.58%) were atheist, agnostic or non-religious (similar to 2019).
Introduction
3567 respondents completed the 2022 EA Survey.
A recurring observation in previous surveys is that the community is relatively lacking in demographic diversity on the dimensions of gender, age, race/ethnicity, and nationality. In this report, we examine the demographic composition of the community, how it has changed over time, and how this is related to different outcomes.
In future posts in this series we will examine differences in experiences of and satisfaction with the community (see posts from 2019 and 2020), and explore the geography of the EA community.
In a forthcoming follow-up survey, we will also be examining experiences related to gender and community satisfaction in more detail.
Basic Demographics
Gender
The percentage of women has slightly increased since 2020 (26.5% to 29.3%), while the percentage of men has slightly decreased (70.5% to 66.2%).
Gender across survey years
Looking across different survey years, we can see that there is now a higher percentage of women in our sample than in the earliest years. In the earliest EA Surveys, we saw just over 75% men, whereas in the most recent survey, we see just over 65%.
Gender across cohorts
Looking across cohorts (EAs who reported first getting involved in a given year), we see that more recent cohorts contain more women than men. This is compatible with either/both increased recruitment of women (or decreased recruitment of men) or disproportionate attrition of...