The world needs more Eagle Scouts

More young people became Eagle Scouts in 2019 than in any other year in the 108-year history of the prestigious award.

Exactly 61,353 young men earned the Eagle Scout award last year, beating the previous record of 58,659 set in 2012, the 100-year anniversary of the award first being presented.

It’s worth noting that this is the last year I’ll be able to type “young men” when referring to the newest Eagle Scout class.

Last year, we reported that the BSA will honor the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts in late 2020. This class is open to any young woman who passes her board of review between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2020, and has submitted her postmarked Eagle application to the National Office no later than Nov. 2, 2020.

As an Eagle Scout (Class of 1999), I have to say it will be such a thrill to watch these impressive young women earn their Eagle badges later this year.

Speaking of impressive, let’s get back to the Eagle Scout Class of 2019.

Putting the number in perspective

The capacity of Soldier Field, home to the NFL’s Chicago Bears, is 61,500. That means this year’s Eagle Scout class would just barely fit inside, with room for 147 friends, family members or Scouting bloggers.

Never been to Soldier Field? Then try this: The Class of 2019 is so large that it wouldn’t fit inside any of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. Eagle Scout Day at the Ballpark? Better plan it for a doubleheader.

So why am I making such a big deal about the largest-ever Eagle Scout class? Because it’s a good thing to have so many new Eagle Scouts in the world.

As a Scout leader, you no doubt helped one of these young men discover new things about life, the natural world and himself. Now he’ll use those skills as he takes on life’s next chapter.

Think about that impressive Eagle Scout, and then multiply by 61,353. That’s 61,353 Eagle Scout service projects, 61,353 trained leaders and 61,353 more-prepared citizens.

Let’s break this record every year!

Total number of Eagle Scout service project hours recorded in 2019

Eagle Scouts, and the volunteers they led, completed 8,575,780 hours of work for Eagle Scout service projects in 2019. (The real number is probably even higher!)  That works out to 139.8 hours per project.

At the 2019 “value of volunteer time” rate of $25.43 per hour, that equals a staggering $218.1 million worth of service to communities.

As many city governments are forced to trim their budgets each year, Scouting often fills in the gaps through acts of service.

How many Eagle Scout service project hours were recorded in 2017?

Eagle Scouts and their volunteers completed 8,461,760 hours of service in 2017. That works out to about 152.5 hours per project.

Some might call that amount of service to communities “priceless.” But, in fact, you can put a price on it.

At the current “value of volunteer time” rate of $24.14 per hour, that works out to $204.3 million worth of service to communities.

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/02/21/eagle-scout-class-of-2017-by-the-numbers/

Average age of 2019 Eagle Scouts

The average age of youth earning the Eagle Scout Rank in 2019 was 17.3. That’s about the same as it has been for the past six years.

Number of Eagle Scouts per year, from 1912 to 2019

To my fellow Eagle Scouts: What’s your Eagle number? In other words, how many people became Eagle Scouts the same year as you?

1912 - 23 1913 - 54 1914 - 165

1915 - 96 1916 - 103 1917 - 219 1918 - 222 1919 - 468

1920 - 629 1921 - 1,306 1922 - 2,001 1923 - 2,196 1924 - 3,264

1925 - 3,980 1926 - 4,516 1927 - 5,713 1928 - 6,706 1929 - 6,676

1930 - 7,980 1931 - 8,976 1932 - 9,225 1933 - 6,659 1934 - 7,548

1935 - 8,814 1936 - 7,488 1937 - 7,831 1938 - 8,784 1939 - 9,918

1940 - 10,498 1941 - 9,527 1942 - 8,440 1943 - 9,285 1944 - 10,387

1945 - 10,694 1946 - 10,850 1947 - 9,733 1948 - 8,016 1949 - 9,058

1950 - 9,813 1951 - 10,708 1952 - 15,668 1953 - 9,993 1954 - 12,239

1955 - 14,486 1956 - 15,484 1957 - 17,407 1958 - 17,548 1959 - 17,360

1960 - 21,175 1961 - 24,637 1962 - 26,181 1963 - 27,428 1964 - 29,247

1965 - 27,851 1966 - 26,999 1967 - 30,878 1968 - 28,311 1969 - 31,052

1970 - 29,103 1971 - 30,972 1972 - 29,089 1973 - 46,966 1974 - 36,739

1975 - 21,285 1976 - 27,687 1977 - 24,879 1978 - 22,149 1979 - 22,188

1980 - 22,543 1981 - 24,865 1982 - 25,573 1983 - 25,263 1984 - 27,326

1985 - 27,173 1986 - 26,846 1987 - 27,578 1988 - 27,163 1989 - 29,187

1990 - 29,763 1991 - 32,973 1992 - 34,063 1993 - 33,672 1994 - 37,438

1995 - 31,209 1996 - 37,715 1997 - 40,296 1998 - 41,167 1999 - 47,582

2000 - 40,029 2001 - 43,665 2002 - 49,328 2003 - 49,151 2004 - 50,377

2005 - 49,895 2006 - 51,728 2007 - 51,742 2008 - 52,025 2009 - 53,122

2010 - 57,147 2011 - 51,933 2012 - 58,659 2013 - 56,841 2014 - 51,820

2015 - 54,366 2016 - 55,186 2017 - 55,494 2018 - 52,160 2019 - 61,353

2020 -
2021 - 

2022 - 

2023 -