IB in Numbers: how results changed from 2022 to 2025
Across the May and November sessions, published IB student registrations increased from 191,948 in 2022 to 225,109 in 2025. Over the same period, the combined number of DP second-year candidates rose from 102,590 to 120,061.
This article combines the official May and November statistical bulletins for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. It lets you compare the two sessions, hover over chart points for exact values and read the complete data in HTML tables. The emphasis is not one headline percentage; it is how participation, Diploma outcomes, mean scores, result bands and retake-category records moved together.
First: what exactly is being counted?
The bulletins contain several different populations. Treating them as interchangeable is the easiest way to produce a convincing but incorrect chart.
All students listed in the session overview, including DP, course, anticipated, retake and, where reported, CP categories. Adding May and November gives annual activity, not a deduplicated headcount.
The population used in the Diploma awarded/not-awarded results series and the denominator for the published pass rate.
A registration category within DP. It is not the same as “everyone who has ever repeated something,” and it should not be divided by all candidates as if it were a failure rate.
Our annual estimate weights the rounded May and November pass rates by their candidate counts. Because source rates are rounded to one decimal, the result is approximate.
A person may appear in more than one session or category over time. Therefore, “May + November registrations” means the sum of two session snapshots. It must not be described as the number of unique IB students in the world that year.
Student registrations grew in every complete year
Summed May and November session registrations rose by 33,161 between 2022 and 2025, a 17.3% increase. Most of the volume is in May, but both sessions grew. May registrations increased 16.2% over the period; November registrations increased 27.3%.
All student registrations by session
All published student categories in each session. Hover or keyboard-focus a bar for its exact count.
| Year | May registrations | November registrations | Summed session registrations | Annual change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 173,880 | 18,068 | 191,948 | Baseline |
| 2023 | 179,922 | 20,266 | 200,188 | +4.3% |
| 2024 | 192,866 | 21,806 | 214,672 | +7.2% |
| 2025 | 202,103 | 23,006 | 225,109 | +4.9% |
The combined total passed 200,000 session registrations in 2023 and 225,000 in 2025. May represented about nine in ten of the summed registrations each year. That scale difference is why the combined annual pass rate sits much closer to the May rate than the November rate.
Schools represented in each session
| Year | May schools | November schools | Simple sum* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 3,090 | 1,124 | 4,214 |
| 2023 | 3,189 | 1,340 | 4,529 |
| 2024 | 3,323 | 1,427 | 4,750 |
| 2025 | 3,401 | 1,501 | 4,902 |
*Do not interpret this sum as unique schools. A school offering both sessions is present twice, and the public bulletins do not provide a cross-session school identifier for deduplication.
The Diploma outcome cohort grew 17.0%
The combined DP second-year candidate population rose from 102,590 in 2022 to 120,061 in 2025. May added 12,744 candidates; November added 4,727. November remained much smaller, but its share of the combined cohort rose from 13.5% to 15.5%.
DP second-year candidates by session
This is the relevant population for the published Diploma pass-rate series.
| Year | May | November | Combined session count | Change from prior year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 88,766 | 13,824 | 102,590 | Baseline |
| 2023 | 91,442 | 16,187 | 107,629 | +4.9% |
| 2024 | 96,726 | 17,514 | 114,240 | +6.1% |
| 2025 | 101,510 | 18,551 | 120,061 | +5.1% |
Pass rates: May and November moved differently
The May pass rate fell from 86.1% in 2022 to 80.0% in 2023, then rose to 80.5% in 2024 and 81.3% in 2025. November fell from 82.0% to 72.4% in 2023, then rose to 73.1% and 74.3%.
Published DP pass rate by session
These are separate cohorts. The gap does not prove that one examination session is easier.
| Year | May rate | November rate | Gap | Approx. candidate-weighted annual rate* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 86.1% | 82.0% | 4.1 points | 85.5% |
| 2023 | 80.0% | 72.4% | 7.6 points | 78.9% |
| 2024 | 80.5% | 73.1% | 7.4 points | 79.4% |
| 2025 | 81.3% | 74.3% | 7.0 points | 80.2% |
*IBretake calculation: (May candidates × published May rate + November candidates × published November rate) ÷ combined candidates. It is approximate because both source rates are rounded to one decimal.
Approximate candidate-weighted annual pass rate
A summary measure calculated from the two published session rates and candidate counts.
The combined estimate fell 6.7 percentage points in 2023, then recovered by about 1.4 points over the next two years. It remained below 2022. This is descriptive, not causal: the bulletins do not isolate whether changes came from assessment, subject mix, candidate composition, policy, curriculum transitions or another factor.
Mean Diploma points show the same broad pattern
May mean points moved from 32.0 in 2022 to 30.2 in 2023, then increased to 30.5 by 2025. November moved from 31.0 to 29.1 and then to 29.4. In each of these four years, the November mean was below the May mean, with a gap ranging from 1.0 to 1.2 points.
Mean DP total points by session
Published mean total points for second-year Diploma results.
| Year | May mean grade | November mean grade | May mean points | November mean points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 32.0 | 31.0 |
| 2023 | 4.8 | 4.6 | 30.2 | 29.1 |
| 2024 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 30.3 | 29.3 |
| 2025 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 30.5 | 29.4 |
The result distribution shifted, then partly recovered
The mean is only one number. Score bands show where the distribution moved. In May, the 0-23 share increased sharply in 2023, then declined in 2024 and 2025. The 40-45 share followed the opposite pattern. November shows a similar 2023 break and modest recovery, although its lower bands remained larger than May's.
| May points band | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-23 | 10.9% | 16.1% | 15.5% | 14.7% |
| 24-29 | 23.1% | 28.3% | 28.8% | 27.7% |
| 30-34 | 27.8% | 26.9% | 26.9% | 27.8% |
| 35-39 | 23.5% | 19.8% | 19.5% | 20.5% |
| 40-45 | 14.7% | 8.9% | 9.3% | 9.3% |
| November points band | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-23 | 14.7% | 23.2% | 22.0% | 20.7% |
| 24-29 | 30.4% | 33.0% | 33.8% | 34.0% |
| 30-34 | 23.2% | 19.5% | 19.7% | 20.2% |
| 35-39 | 16.2% | 14.1% | 13.9% | 14.3% |
| 40-45 | 15.5% | 10.2% | 10.6% | 10.9% |
One surprising detail is that November's 40-45 share was slightly higher than May's in every year shown, even while November had a lower mean and pass rate. That is possible because distributions can have both a larger high-scoring tail and a larger low-scoring group. It is a useful warning against describing a cohort from its average alone.
Retake-category records increased, then levelled
The DP retake category grew in both sessions. November contains a much larger retake share than May, which is one plausible contributor to cohort differences, but the public aggregate data cannot establish how much of the pass-rate gap it explains.
DP retake-category registrations
Counts recorded in the DP qualification category tables, not unique people.
| Year | May DP total | May anticipated | May Diploma | May retake | Nov DP total | Nov anticipated | Nov Diploma | Nov retake |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 107,804 | 19,024 | 87,725 | 1,055 | 14,704 | 864 | 11,743 | 2,097 |
| 2023 | 110,663 | 19,188 | 90,373 | 1,102 | 17,151 | 946 | 13,201 | 3,004 |
| 2024 | 116,447 | 19,689 | 94,486 | 2,272 | 18,616 | 1,087 | 13,956 | 3,573 |
| 2025 | 128,401 | 26,118 | 99,957 | 2,326 | 19,727 | 1,152 | 14,971 | 3,604 |
What changed most between 2022 and 2025?
Summed session registrations increased 17.3%, and the combined DP second-year result population increased 17.0%.
Both sessions show lower pass rates and mean points in 2023 than in 2022, with larger 0-23 shares.
Pass rates and mean points rose in both sessions, while the lowest score band contracted.
November is smaller and has a much larger retake-category share. Direct comparisons describe cohorts; they do not measure paper difficulty.
The most defensible conclusion is therefore modest: participation expanded, the published outcome distribution weakened in 2023 relative to 2022, and several measures improved gradually through 2025 without returning fully to the 2022 result profile. Anything stronger would require student-level data and controls that the public bulletins do not provide.
Reproduce the annual comparison
The annual rows combine two session populations, not unique people. The annual pass figure is our candidate-weighted calculation from rates that the source bulletins already round to one decimal, so it remains an approximation rather than an IB-published annual rate.
| Measure | Formula | 2025 example | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual registrations | May + November | 202,103 + 23,006 = 225,109 | Session activity, not unique students |
| Annual DP candidates | May second-year + November second-year | 101,510 + 18,551 = 120,061 | Sum of two result populations |
| Approximate annual pass rate | Σ(candidates × published rate) ÷ Σ candidates | ≈ 80.22% | IBretake calculation, not an IB rate |
| Registration growth, 2022-2025 | (225,109 − 191,948) ÷ 191,948 | 17.28% | Growth in session registrations |
Why does May 2025 appear as both 81.3% and 81.9%?
These are different publication snapshots, not different definitions of a passing grade. The May 2025 provisional bulletin reports 81.3%; the final bulletin reports 81.9%. The IB explains that final data include changes after the assessment session, including enquiries upon results and late information.
| May 2025 source edition | DP pass rate | Mean Diploma points | All session registrations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provisional | 81.3% | 30.5 | 202 103 |
| Final | 81.9% | 30.6 | 202 102 |
The change is 0.6 percentage points, not a 0.6% relative increase. It does not show how many retake candidates improved, and neither percentage is a personal probability of passing a retake.
IB in Numbers keeps its stated provisional May series so its tables, charts and weighted annual calculations use the same snapshot. Do not combine a final pass rate with its provisional candidate denominator. The May 2026 article uses the historical rows in that later bulletin; its 2025 rows are not the provisional 2025 snapshot.
- May 2025 provisional bulletin
- May 2025 final bulletin
- IB in Numbers: methodology
- May 2026: sources and methodology
Methodology, limitations and source files
- Range: exactly four complete calendar years, 2022-2025. No partial 2026 data is included.
- Source hierarchy: for consistent historical series, May values use the retrospective rows in the May 2025 bulletin and November values use the retrospective rows in the November 2025 bulletin. The earlier bulletins are retained below for audit and context. The May 2025 file is provisional; November 2025 is final.
- Annual registrations: May plus November session counts, not deduplicated people.
- Annual candidate counts: May plus November DP second-year result populations.
- Annual pass estimate: candidate-weighted from source percentages rounded to one decimal; it is not an IB-published annual rate.
- Suppression: values below the IB's publication threshold are not estimated.
- Independence: IBretake created the calculations and presentation and is not affiliated with the International Baccalaureate.
- Official IB DP and CP statistical bulletin archive archive
- May 2022 final statistical bulletin PDF
- November 2022 final statistical bulletin PDF
- May 2023 final statistical bulletin PDF
- November 2023 final statistical bulletin PDF
- May 2024 statistical bulletin PDF
- November 2024 final statistical bulletin PDF
- May 2025 provisional statistical bulletin PDF
- November 2025 final statistical bulletin PDF
Looking specifically for the newest May session?
Read the May 2026 bulletin analysis