That's according to data from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which tracks race and gender representation at the Oscars.
OSCARS 2025: See the full list of Academy Awards nominees
Though the University of Southern California has yet to release any data on the 2025 Oscars, data from previous awards seasons shows there's a long way to go to achieving full gender and racial representation.
Last year, 20% -- or one in five -- Oscar nominees were people of color, even though they made up 42% of the U.S. population in the most recent census. The record was set in 2021, when 24% of nominees were people of color.
The gender breakdowns are more promising. 2024 tied the record for the most women nominated in Oscar history at 32%. Women comprise 50.5% of the U.S. population.
Staff at USC Annenberg were inspired to track the data following the 2015 #OscarsSoWhite campaign -- a social media movement that called attention to the underrepresentation of people of color and woman among Oscar nominees and winners.
April Reign, who created the hashtag, told WABC last year that she came up with the idea while watching television during Oscar season. That year, people of color received zero nominations in the four acting categories.
"I was watching the Oscar nominations on one of those morning TV shows and it struck me that category after category there were no people of color nominated," Reign said.
It didn't take long for her hashtag to go viral and leave a lasting impact.
"Were you surprised and how quickly that took off?" WABC reporter TaRhonda Thomas asked Reign last year.
"No, to be honest with you," Reign said.
VIDEO: Revisiting 'Oscars So White' 10 years later
The USC data shows racial representation has improved in the nine years since the #OscarsSoWhite campaign compared to the nine years before. Prior to #OscarsSoWhite, just 9.5% of nominees were people of color. Since then, the number has risen to 17%.
The largest gains were made in the categories for Best Documentary Feature, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor.
USC's data for the 2025 Oscar season could be released as soon as March.