Applications for the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test reached 1,940,852 worldwide in 2025, the highest total since the exam began in 1984. Volumes rose across Korean, Chinese and Spanish certificates in the same year. This post pulls together verified figures on candidate numbers, score distributions and pass rates, taken from the bodies that run each exam.
Language Proficiency Certifications Statistics 2026
How Many People Take Language Proficiency Certifications Each Year?
The JLPT is the largest single-language certificate with published annual counts. Applicants reached 1,940,852 in 2025 and examinees 1,645,713, spread over 92 countries and areas.
Applications fell to 424,147 in 2020, when the July sitting was cancelled worldwide. The 2025 figure is more than four times that low point.
Source: The Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services, JLPT past test data, 1984–2025
| Year | Applicants | Examinees | Countries and areas |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1,481,023 | 1,265,435 | 92 |
| 2024 | 1,718,943 | 1,470,989 | 96 |
| 2025 | 1,940,852 | 1,645,713 | 92 |
Source: The Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services, JLPT past test data, 2023–2025
JLPT Language Proficiency Certification Results By Level
The December 2025 sitting drew 1,036,380 applicants and 876,484 examinees. N3 was the most-taken level, with 249,389 examinees.
N5, the entry level, sat almost entirely with overseas candidates: 74,836 of its 79,483 examinees tested outside Japan.
Source: The Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services, JLPT December 2025 test data
Certification Rates, December 2025
Across all five levels, 297,582 of 876,484 examinees were certified, a rate of 33.9%. N1 had the lowest rate at 29.8%, N5 the highest at 50.2%.
Overseas candidates passed at higher rates than candidates in Japan at every level except N5. The overseas N2 rate was 40.9% against 25.4% in Japan.
| Level | Examinees | Certified | Certified (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| N1 | 121,233 | 36,124 | 29.8% |
| N2 | 232,364 | 76,712 | 33.0% |
| N3 | 249,389 | 77,767 | 31.2% |
| N4 | 194,015 | 67,054 | 34.6% |
| N5 | 79,483 | 39,925 | 50.2% |
| Total | 876,484 | 297,582 | 33.9% |
Source: The Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services, JLPT December 2025 test data
TOEFL iBT Score Statistics For 2024
ETS reports a mean TOEFL iBT total score of 86 with a standard deviation of 19 for people who tested between January and December 2024. Section means were 21.9 for Reading, 22.1 for Listening, 20.7 for Speaking and 21.1 for Writing.
A total of 100 sat at the 75th percentile that year. ETS states the test is accepted by more than 12,500 colleges, universities and licensing agencies in over 160 countries.
Source: ETS, TOEFL iBT Test and Score Data Summary 2024 (January–December 2024 test data)
Mean Total Score By Reason For Taking The Test
Candidates applying to master’s, graduate or post-graduate programmes recorded the highest mean total at 88. Applicants to two-year and community colleges recorded the lowest at 77.
Source: ETS, TOEFL iBT Test and Score Data Summary 2024 (January–December 2024 test data)
Section Scores By Gender
Mean totals were near-identical: 85.7 for male examinees and 85.6 for female examinees who answered the gender question. The gap sits inside the sections. Male examinees averaged 22.4 in Reading against 21.4; female examinees averaged 21.0 in Speaking against 20.2.
Source: ETS, TOEFL iBT Test and Score Data Summary 2024 (January–December 2024 test data)
IELTS Language Proficiency Certification Performance, 2024–2025
IELTS publishes means and reliability estimates rather than candidate counts. For sections used in 2024–2025, Listening averaged 6.45 and Academic Reading 6.32.
Composite reliability was 0.97 for both the Academic and General Training tests, with a composite standard error of measurement of 0.17 and 0.19 respectively.
| Test section | Mean | Standard deviation | SEM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listening | 6.45 | 1.36 | 0.43 |
| Academic Reading | 6.32 | 1.26 | 0.36 |
| General Training Reading | 6.05 | 1.56 | 0.47 |
Source: IELTS, Test statistics — test performance 2024-2025
Anyone weighing IELTS against the alternatives can compare fees and band data in this breakdown for US test takers.
Language Proficiency Certifications Beyond English
TOPIK
South Korea’s Ministry of Education reported more than 550,000 TOPIK takers between January and September 2025, against 490,000 for all of 2024. Internet-based testing ran in 13 countries in 2025, rising to 17 in 2026 with Nepal, Laos, Bahrain and India added.
TOPIK will be administered 15 times in 2026: six paper sittings, six online and three speaking tests.
Source: Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea, via Korea.net, October 2025
Learners planning around those dates can browse free Korean study resources while they wait for registration to open.
HSK
Annual HSK candidate numbers grew from 32,000 in 2004 to 719,000 in 2024, according to the Center for Language Education and Cooperation under China’s Ministry of Education. The first half of 2025 recorded 414,000 paid candidates, up 19.6% year on year.
CLEC projected 750,000 candidates for the full 2025 year and a cumulative total above 8.5 million. The exam runs at 1,477 test centres and more than 30,000 test rooms across 168 countries.
Source: Center for Language Education and Cooperation, Ministry of Education of China, 2024 annual figure and first-half 2025
Beginners working toward HSK 1 or 2 can start with these Chinese worksheets.
Goethe-Institut German Exams
A total of 1.1 million German exams were taken at Goethe-Institut exam centres in 2025. B1 alone accounted for 461,000 exams taken worldwide that year.
The organisation runs 154 institutes across 100 countries and works with 500 exam centres.
Source: Goethe-Institut, German exams A1–C2 figures, 2025
DELE
The Instituto Cervantes registered close to 143,000 DELE candidates in 2025, roughly 4% above 2024. The November sitting alone drew nearly 34,000 candidates.
That sitting ran at 596 exam centres across 432 cities in 95 countries. A new B2/C1 dual-outcome exam for school-age candidates starts in the May and November 2026 sittings.
Source: Instituto Cervantes, press release, 20 November 2025
For anyone building toward A2 or B1, these Spanish worksheets cover the basics, and the phrase flashcards handle drilling.
Where Language Proficiency Certification Candidates Come From
Duolingo reports that people from 219 countries and 148 first languages took the Duolingo English Test in 2025. Asia accounted for 55% of all test sessions.
Africa’s share rose from 7% to 8.3% year on year, which Duolingo links to growth in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Ghana. Mandarin, Spanish and Arabic speakers made up about 31% of sessions between them.
Source: Duolingo, 2025 Duolingo Language Report
ETS publishes TOEFL score means by native country and native language but states plainly that ranking countries on those means is a misuse of the data, since candidate numbers and curricula differ too widely. Anyone curious about how study time varies by language pair will find the FSI difficulty rankings a better guide, and the learner-count data useful for context on demand.
FAQs
Which language proficiency certification has the most candidates?
Among exams that publish annual counts, the JLPT is the largest, with 1,940,852 applicants and 1,645,713 examinees in 2025. HSK recorded 719,000 candidates in 2024 and DELE about 143,000 in 2025.
What is the average TOEFL iBT score?
The mean total score was 86, with a standard deviation of 19, for people who tested between January and December 2024. Section means ranged from 20.7 in Speaking to 22.1 in Listening.
Why do Reddit threads quote different JLPT pass rates?
Rates differ by level and by sitting. In December 2025 the combined rate was 33.9%, but N1 certified 29.8% of examinees and N5 certified 50.2%. Reddit posts often cite one level or one sitting.
How hard is JLPT N1 compared with N2?
N1 certified 29.8% of its 121,233 examinees in December 2025. N2 certified 33.0% of 232,364 examinees. Both rates cover that single sitting worldwide.
Is the Duolingo English Test as widely taken as Reddit suggests?
Reddit gives no counts. Duolingo reports test takers from 219 countries and 148 first languages in 2025, with Asia making up 55% of sessions and Africa 8.3%.
Sources
https://www.jlpt.jp/e/statistics/archive.html
https://www.ets.org/pdfs/toefl/toefl-ibt-test-score-data-summary-2024.pdf
https://www.ielts.org/researchers/our-research/test-statistics
https://www.goethe.de/de/spr/prf.html
