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NEET (UG) Exam Statistics: Key Insights and State-Wise Performance

  • July 22, 2026
  • Chief Editor
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KEY DATA POINTS OF NEET (UG) OVER THE YEARS

1. Details of Candidates Registered for NEET (UG) Over the Years

  • Consistent Growth & Peak: Registration numbers surged steadily from 1.51 million in 2019 to an all-time high of over 2.4 million in 2024.
  • Stabilization: After peaking in 2024, candidate registrations stabilized at approximately 2.27–2.28 million across 2025 and 2026.
  • Demographics: Female registrations have consistently outnumbered male candidates every year, while Indian nationals make up the vast majority of applicants.
Year20192020202120222023202420252026
Registered1,519,3751,597,4351,614,7771,872,3432,087,4622,406,0792,276,0692,279,743
Appeared1,410,7551,366,9451,544,2731,764,5712,038,5962,333,2972,209,3181,999,895
Absent108,620230,49070,504107,77248,86672,78266,751279,848
Indian Nationals1,516,0661,593,9071,612,2761,870,0152,036,3162,402,7742,273,5282,276,743
NRIs1,8841,8691,0549108521,3047411,066
OCIs6757325646476428058611,007
PIO6349——————
Foreigners6878788837717861,196939927
Male680,414716,586710,988807,538902,9361,029,198965,996946,815
Female838,955880,843903,7741,064,7941,184,5131,376,8631,310,0621,332,914
Third Gender66151113181114

2. Category-Wise Candidates Registered for NEET (UG) Over the Years

  • OBC Dominance: The Other Backward Classes (OBC) category consistently accounts for the largest share of total applicants, crossing 1 million in 2024.
  • EWS Growth: Following its introduction in 2020 with 93,915 applicants, the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category has grown to over 165,000 applicants in 2026.
  • SC/ST & General: General category applicants stabilized around 665,000 in 2026, while SC and ST registrations reached 345,519 and 151,366, respectively.
Category20192020202120222023202420252026
General534,072475,534460,853565,964592,110647,260689,366665,036
SC211,303221,253235,667268,750294,995356,727333,646345,519
ST96,456100,519100,900113,830126,121157,115150,224151,366
OBC677,544706,214693,652791,135873,1731,054,277948,507952,249
EWS—93,915123,705132,664152,197190,700154,326165,573
Total1,519,3751,597,4351,153,9241,872,3432,038,5962,406,0792,276,0692,279,743

3. Language-Wise Number of Candidates Registered Over Years

  • Primary Medium: English remains the overwhelmingly preferred medium of instruction, chosen by over 1.8 million candidates in 2026.
  • Regional Languages: Hindi is the second most popular language (~345,000 applicants in 2026), followed by Gujarati, Bengali, and Tamil.
  • Multilingual Options: NTA offers NEET (UG) in 13 different languages to cater to candidates from diverse linguistic backgrounds across India.
Language20192020202120222023202420252026
English1,204,9681,263,2731,265,5201,476,0241,672,9141,892,4131,822,4101,808,535
Hindi179,857204,399228,641258,827276,180357,924328,634345,247
Assamese1,7965,3284,5964,0633,3243,7692,4782,147
Bengali4,75036,59335,11042,66343,89048,26438,24238,577
Gujarati59,39559,05549,94249,63853,02758,83853,02549,647
Kannada2,3051,0059631,1937041,065460614
Marathi31,2396,2582,9132,3681,8331,7599271,144
MalayalamN/AN/A3,0311,5101,003958481787
Odia31,4908221,0168229881,312812716
PunjabiN/AN/A1049673214170226
Tamil1,01717,10119,86831,96530,53636,33526,58029,845
Telugu7001,6241,2511,2641,2951,6839071,339
Urdu1,8581,9771,8221,9101,6951,545943919

4. Gender-Wise Performance (2025 vs 2026)

  • Female Lead: Female candidates outperformed male candidates in both total appearances and qualification numbers in both years.
  • 2026 Qualification: Out of 1,332,914 registered females, 654,049 qualified in 2026, compared to 467,134 qualified males from 946,815 registrations.
  • Pass Rate: Both genders saw a slight dip in overall qualified candidates in 2026 compared to 2025.
Gender2025 Registered2025 Appeared2025 Qualified2026 Registered2026 Appeared2026 Qualified
Male965,996937,411514,063946,815847,732467,134
Female1,310,0621,271,896722,4621,332,9141,152,152654,049
Third Gender1111614112
Total2,276,0692,209,3181,236,5312,279,7431,999,8951,121,185

5. Category-Wise Performance (2025 vs 2026)

  • Highest Qualifiers: The OBC category produced the highest number of qualified candidates in both 2025 (564,611) and 2026 (512,014).
  • Overall Trend: Qualification counts decreased proportionally across all major categories (General, OBC, SC, ST, EWS) in 2026 compared to 2025 in alignment with a lower overall pass total.
Category2025 Registered2025 Appeared2025 Qualified2026 Registered2026 Appeared2026 Qualified
OBC948,507925,739564,611952,249843,032512,014
SC333,646322,538168,873345,519304,115159,296
ST150,224143,60267,234151,366129,95763,716
General689,366665,853338,728665,036569,098291,133
EWS154,326151,58697,085165,573153,69395,026
Total2,276,0692,209,3181,236,5312,279,7431,999,8951,121,185

6. PwBD Category Performance (2025 vs 2026)

  • Registration: Registrations for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) grew from 9,167 in 2025 to 9,893 in 2026.
  • Qualified Candidates: Despite the increase in registrations, the number of qualified PwBD candidates remained nearly identical (3,673 in 2025 vs. 3,666 in 2026).
Category2025 Registered2025 Appeared2025 Qualified2026 Registered2026 Appeared2026 Qualified
PwBD9,1678,8423,6739,8938,9123,666

7. Nationality-Wise Performance (2025 vs 2026)

  • Domestic Candidates: Indian nationals form the bulk of qualifying students, making up 1,119,699 of the total 1,121,185 qualifiers in 2026.
  • NRI & Overseas: Non-Resident Indian (NRI) registrations grew from 741 in 2025 to 1,066 in 2026, with 451 qualifying. Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) candidates also maintained a strong qualification count (581 in 2026).
Nationality2025 Registered2025 Appeared2025 Qualified2026 Registered2026 Appeared2026 Qualified
Indian2,273,5282,206,9681,234,9912,276,7431,997,4591,119,699
Foreign Nationals939870529927767454
NRI7416944051,066867451
OCI8617866061,007802581
Total2,276,0692,209,3181,236,5312,279,7431,999,8951,121,185

8. Category-Wise Cut-off & Qualifying Criteria (2024–2026)

  • UR/EWS Percentile Threshold: The 50th percentile qualifying mark range shifted from 720–162 (2024) to 686–144 (2025), and rose to 715–213 in 2026.
  • Reserved Categories: For OBC, SC, and ST ($\ge 40^{\text{th}}$ percentile), the qualifying mark range in 2026 was 212–177, up from 143–113 in 2025.
  • Total Qualified: The aggregate number of qualifying candidates nationwide dropped from 1,315,853 in 2024 to 1,121,185 in 2026.
CategoryQualifying Percentile CriteriaNEET 2024 Marks RangeNEET 2024 QualifiedNEET 2025 Marks RangeNEET 2025 QualifiedNEET 2026 Marks RangeNEET 2026 Qualified
UR / EWS>=50th percentile720–1621,165,334686–1441,101,151715–213996,935
OBC>=40th but <50th percentile161–127100,876143–11388,692212–17781,111
SC>=40th but <50th percentile161–12734,420143–11331,995212–17729,947
ST>=40th but <50th percentile161–12714,414143–11313,940212–17712,452
UR / EWS & PwBD>=45th but <50th percentile161–144473143–127472212–194480
OBC & PwBD>=40th but <45th percentile143–127269126–113216193–177185
SC & PwBD>=40th but <45th percentile143–12754126–11348193–17764
ST & PwBD>=40th but <45th percentile142–12713126–11317191–17711
Total——1,315,853—1,236,531—1,121,185

9. State-Wise Performance (2025 vs 2026)

  • Top Performing States: Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan consistently lead the nation in total registered and qualified candidates.
  • 2026 Highlights:
  • Uttar Pradesh: 170,770 qualified candidates out of 328,847 who appeared.
  • Rajasthan: High conversion rate with 133,140 qualifying out of 192,023 who appeared.
  • Maharashtra: 107,304 qualifying candidates out of 201,100 who appeared.
State / UT Name2025 Registered2025 Appeared2025 Qualified2026 Registered2026 Appeared2026 Qualified
Andaman & Nicobar Islands961933533895717369
Andhra Pradesh59,21957,93436,77665,95760,18633,221
Arunachal Pradesh5,3315,1342,6454,8913,9402,179
Assam44,49741,84819,80943,18736,28318,435
Bihar164,186159,16780,954152,924140,07968,968
Chandigarh2,7582,6751,8162,8542,6221,839
Chhattisgarh43,71845,22622,26145,78141,11121,291
Dadra & Nagar Haveli1,1751,1546511,2001,074573
Daman & Diu582572318647603326
Delhi61,19963,04640,33159,66953,84635,132
Goa5,0914,8282,2974,3603,6751,885
Gujarat81,60580,15150,04079,19068,83338,146
Haryana55,86257,20435,59265,32859,28736,622
Himachal Pradesh19,13219,66511,25618,64816,7449,595
Jammu and Kashmir50,95749,32624,01556,42050,11025,007
Jharkhand36,46635,39719,20338,40535,05119,039
Karnataka147,782142,36983,582145,852117,56465,901
Kerala121,516127,44273,328113,78684,66451,782
Lakshadweep2602361541359043
Madhya Pradesh118,244121,50160,346118,084105,51455,655
Maharashtra242,858248,201125,727222,849201,100107,304
Manipur10,60610,9676,1169,6578,3215,070
Meghalaya3,8694,0681,6814,1833,4251,658
Mizoram2,4172,5521,2432,6242,1661,353
Nagaland3,7573,5321,8133,8663,2891,946
Odisha61,11159,23831,67356,78650,00928,336
Puducherry5,2665,1492,6395,4024,7162,451
Punjab29,38428,40716,10434,85829,35115,749
Rajasthan180,637176,181119,865208,583192,023133,140
Sikkim1,3151,2736431,3231,092579
Tamil Nadu135,715140,15876,181142,494108,60161,306
Telangana72,09470,25941,58473,08465,12138,026
Tripura5,0234,7922,2654,6773,6541,807
Uttar Pradesh341,491333,088170,684356,079328,847170,770
Uttarakhand21,00020,32911,20720,34418,00110,127
West Bengal110,399106,67559,018108,94493,38152,746
Ladakh1,6321,6959781,045899491
Others (incl. Outside India)1,9971,9031,2034,7323,9062,318
Total2,276,0692,209,3181,236,5312,279,7431,999,8951,121,185

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