How many Nobel Prizes are awarded each year?

The number of Nobel Prizes annually awarded isn't set and varies from year to year. There have been several years since 1901 in which Nobel Prizes haven't been awarded. In 2014, the Nobel Foundation awarded 12 Nobel Prizes and one Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences.

The Nobel Prize is given in five different areas, including physics, literature, medicine, peace and chemistry, as the economics prize is not technically a Nobel Prize. From 1901 through 2014, a total of 521 Nobel Prizes and 46 Prizes in Economic Sciences have been awarded. As of 2014, two people have turned down the Nobel Prize: writer-philosopher John-Paul Sartre in 1964 and Vietnamese leader Le Duc Tho in 1973.