<P> In 2003, over four - fifths (85 percent) of all adults 25 years or older reported they had completed at least high school or didn't complete high school but obtained a GED / high school equivalency certificate . Over one in four adults (27 percent) had attained at least a bachelor's degree . Both of these measures are all time highs . In 2003, the percentage of the adult population who had completed high school or had not completed high school but obtained a GED increased for the first time since 2000, when it was 84 percent . This increase follows a general trend that the Current Population Survey has shown since educational attainment was first measured in 1947 . </P> <P> In 2015, among adults aged 65 and older, 84 percent had either completed high school or more education, or had failed to complete high school but obtained at least a GED certification, compared to 91 percent of adults aged 25 to 34 and 89 percent of adults aged 35 to 44 years or 45 to 64 years . In addition, 27 percent of the population aged 65 and older reported a bachelor's degree or more education compared to 36 percent of adults 25 to 34 years old and 32 percent of adults aged 45 to 64 years . </P> <P> Since 1983 the percentage of people either graduating from high school or failing to complete high school but getting a GED certification has increased from 85% to 88% . The greatest increases in educational attainment were documented in the 1950s, 60s and 70s . In the 1950s and much of the 1960s high school graduates constituted about 50% of those considered adults (25 and above). For young adults aged between 25 and 29, the percentage of either high school graduates or GED obtainers was roughly 50% in 1950 versus 90% today . </P> <P> For the past fifty years, there has been a gap in the educational achievement of males and females in the United States, but which gender has been disadvantaged has fluctuated over the years . In the 1970s and 1980s, data showed girls trailing behind boys in a variety of academic performance measures, specifically in test scores in math and science . </P>

What percentage of the us has a high school diploma