The high school completion rate for blacks between the ages of 25 and 29 rose to nearly 87 percent last year, reaching about the same level as their white peers for the first time, the Census Bureau reported.
That education level for all adults 25 and older reached nearly 82 percent - the highest since it was first measured by the bureau in 1947, a Census report said."The long-term rise in educational attainment for the general adult population is driven principally by the replacement of older less-educated people by younger people who have completed substantially more education," the report said.
The findings are based on data collected in the bureau's Current Population Survey in March 1995. Those questioned were asked to state the highest grade or degree they had completed.
The percentage of adults aged 25 and older who said they had completed at least high school peaked not only for the entire population but for each sex and for both blacks and whites, the bureau said. The proportion of adults who had earned a bachelor's degree also was at a record high - 23 percent last year.
"School completion is one of the most important influences on economic well-being," says Jennifer Day, author of the report. "Higher educational attainment tends to be reflected in greater socioeconomic success for individuals and the nation."
In the general adult population, the high school completion rates for men and women were roughly equal, at about 82 percent. But 26 percent of the men had earned college bachelor's degrees, compared with 20 percent of the women.
In the 25 and older category, sizable differences in the numbers of people who had completed high school remained between whites and blacks. Eighty-three percent of whites were high school graduates, compared with 74 percent for blacks.
But when the bureau just looked at the youngest segment of the adult population - 25- to 29-year-olds - blacks and whites were almost equal last year, at 87.4 percent for whites and 86.5 percent for blacks.