Roughly 143,000 people registered for the DELE in 2025, about 4% more than in 2024, based on Instituto Cervantes press data from November 2025. The diploma is awarded by Instituto Cervantes on behalf of Spain’s Ministry of Education. This guide covers candidate volume, the 2026 exam calendar from A1 to C2, pass rates through the latest graded session, and fees across seven countries.
DELE Exam Guide From A1 to C2
DELE Exam Guide From A1 to C2: How Many Candidates Take the DELE?
Instituto Cervantes registered around 143,000 DELE candidates worldwide in 2025, against 137,000+ in 2024. Growth halved between the two years, from 9% to 4%, even though absolute numbers kept rising.
Measured against the 24,560,143 people studying Spanish worldwide in 2025 per the Observatorio Global del Español, DELE candidates account for around 0.58% of the learner pool. Where Spanish sits in overall demand is covered in these figures on the most learned foreign languages worldwide.
| Year | Global DELE candidates | Change vs prior year | November candidates | Centres (Nov) | Cities | Countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 137,000+ | +9% | 33,000+ | 584 | 440 | 107 |
| 2025 | ~143,000 | +4% | ~34,000 | 596 | 432 | 95 |
Source: Instituto Cervantes press releases, November 2024 and November 2025
The November session held its share almost exactly: 24.1% of the 2024 annual total and 23.8% of the 2025 total. The geographic movement is the more interesting part.
Instituto Cervantes ran 12 more exam centres in November 2025 than a year earlier, but across 12 fewer countries and 8 fewer cities. That works out to 4.55 cities per participating country in 2025 against 4.11 in 2024, and 1.38 centres per city against 1.33. The network is thickening in markets that already had demand rather than spreading into new ones.
November Session Footprint, 2024 vs 2025
DELE Exam Guide From A1 to C2: 2026 Exam Dates by Level
Five written sessions run in 2026, down from seven in 2025. Instituto Cervantes dropped the July and September dates this year. The full schedule sits on the official DELE calendar page.
| Written test date | General levels offered | Registration closed |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 13 February 2026 | A2, A2-NA | 7 January 2026 |
| Friday 17 April 2026 | A2, A2-NA (Spain only) | 25 February 2026 |
| Saturday 23 May 2026 | A1, A2, A2-NA, B1, B2, C1, C2 | 8 April 2026 |
| Friday 16 October 2026 | B1, B2, C1 | 2 September 2026 |
| Saturday 17 October 2026 | A2, A2-NA | 2 September 2026 |
| Friday 13 November 2026 | A2, A2-NA | 30 September 2026 |
| Saturday 14 November 2026 | A1, B1, B2, C1, C2 | 30 September 2026 |
Source: Instituto Cervantes DELE 2026 calendar
The availability gap across levels is wide. A2 candidates get five opportunities in 2026; B1, B2 and C1 candidates get three; A1 and C2 candidates get two, both inside the double-date May and November sittings.
A C2 candidate who misses May waits six months. Those two sittings also carry the school-age papers, and the May and November 2026 sessions are the first administrations of the new B2/C1 dual-outcome exam for 11 to 17 year olds. Candidates targeting the lower levels can cover the ground the A1 and A2 papers test with these free Spanish worksheets for beginners.
2026 Written Sittings Available per Level
DELE Exam Guide From A1 to C2: Pass Rates by Session
Overall pass rates cluster in a narrow band of 70% to 75% across the five most recently graded sessions, per Instituto Cervantes grade announcements. The two full-range sittings scored highest: 74% in May 2025 and 75% in November 2025.
That runs against the assumption that adding C1 and C2 candidates drags the average down. The May 2025 session alone accounted for 36.8% of the year’s roughly 143,000 candidates, which is why Instituto Cervantes ranks November second by volume rather than first.
| Session | Levels examined | Candidates registered | A2-NA candidates | Overall pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2025 | A2, A2-NA | ~9,600 | 1,500+ | ~70% |
| May 2025 | A1–C2 plus school levels | 52,600+ | 1,238 | ~74% |
| September 2025 | A2, A2-NA | 7,500+ | 1,267 | 73% |
| November 2025 | All general levels | 33,944 | 1,527 | 75% |
| February 2026 | A2, A2-NA | 9,739 | 1,689 | 71% |
Source: Instituto Cervantes grade announcements, February 2025 to February 2026 sessions (November 2025 results published March 2026)
Overall Pass Rate by Session (%)
A2-NA is the adapted A2 test for Spanish nationality applicants who are not literate. Its share of the A2-only sittings has been climbing: at least 15.6% in February 2025, 16.9% in September 2025 and 17.3% in February 2026.
Total February registrations barely moved over the same period, rising from about 9,600 to 9,739, a gain of roughly 1.4%. The nationality-driven segment is growing inside a flat February market rather than expanding it.
DELE Exam Guide From A1 to C2: 2026 Fees by Country
Fees are set in local currency and approved country by country, so the shape of the ladder differs as much as its height. Spain applies the steepest climb in this group, more than doubling from A1 to C2. India applies the shallowest at +58%.
| Country | A1 | A2 | B1 | B2 | C1 | C2 | A1 to C2 increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain (EUR) | 112 | 138 | 173 | 204 | 225 | 240 | +114% |
| United Kingdom (GBP) | 130 | 170 | 185 | 205 | 215 | 245 | +88% |
| Germany (EUR) | 138 | 150 | 164 | 235 | 250 | 255 | +85% |
| France (EUR) | 115 | 125 | 147 | 192 | 200 | 205 | +78% |
| Mexico (USD) | 105 | 110 | 130 | 150 | 165 | 180 | +71% |
| United States (USD) | 128 | 130 | 154 | 176 | 195 | 210 | +64% |
| India (INR) | 5,700 | 6,200 | 6,800 | 8,000 | 8,500 | 9,000 | +58% |
Source: Instituto Cervantes DELE 2026 price table
Where the jump lands also varies. Germany’s biggest single step is B1 to B2, a 43% increase from EUR 164 to EUR 235, while Spain’s is A2 to B1 at 25%. The United States has the flattest opening step, $2 between A1 and A2 at $128 and $130, a 1.6% difference.
2026 Fee Ladder in Eurozone Markets (EUR)
Spain’s A2 at EUR 138 sits near the bottom of the price ladder while carrying the heaviest volume of any single level. Candidates who want a revision of their marks pay 60% of the pre-discount exam fee, refunded only if the grade changes from fail to pass or moves up a band in the dual-outcome school exams, per Instituto Cervantes. On Spain’s C2 fee, that revision costs EUR 144.
Results for the November 2025 session were published in the first week of March 2026, based on the Instituto Cervantes grade announcement. Anyone still deciding which level to target can weigh the FSI language difficulty rankings and hours to fluency for realistic study-hour benchmarks; Spanish takes 690 FSI classroom hours to professional working proficiency.
Size of the Instituto Cervantes Testing Network
Only 596 of roughly 1,300 registered centres ran the November 2025 session, so 45.8% of the network was active in the year’s second-largest sitting, based on the Memoria 2024-2025 and the November 2025 press release.
| Metric | 2024-2025 figure |
|---|---|
| DELE exam centres worldwide | ~1,300 across 120 countries and 800+ cities |
| SIELE exam centres | 1,163 across 69 countries |
| DELE special-needs adaptation requests | 1,021 |
| Requests citing learning needs | 764 |
| Braille exam papers produced | 8 |
| Grader accreditation courses delivered | 226, of which 94% online |
Source: Instituto Cervantes Memoria 2024-2025
Centre density differs sharply between the two Cervantes certifications: DELE averages 10.8 centres per country, SIELE 16.9, because SIELE is delivered electronically and concentrated in fewer markets.
Accessibility requests totalled 1,021 against about 143,000 candidates, or 0.7%, and learning-needs cases made up 74.8% of them. Since October 2024 every DELE diploma has been issued digitally with a QR code and a secure code that anyone can check against the register.
Two structural points fall out of the whole dataset. Access is uneven by level, with A2 candidates getting five sittings a year and C2 candidates two. Cost is uneven by market, with the A1-to-C2 premium ranging from 58% to 114% depending on where you register. For how Spanish testing demand compares with the far larger English market, see these English language statistics.
FAQs
How many people take the DELE exam each year?
Around 143,000 candidates registered worldwide in 2025, up about 4% from 137,000+ in 2024, per Instituto Cervantes press data from November 2025.
What is the DELE pass rate?
Overall pass rates ran 70% to 75% across the five sessions graded between February 2025 and February 2026, per Instituto Cervantes. The November 2025 session, covering all general levels, recorded 75%.
Is DELE C2 as rare as Reddit threads suggest?
C2 sittings are limited, which matches what Reddit prep threads report: only two written dates in 2026, May 23 and November 14, per the Instituto Cervantes calendar. Missing May means a six-month wait.
How much does the DELE cost in 2026?
It depends on level and country. Spain charges EUR 112 for A1 up to EUR 240 for C2, the US $128 to $210, and India INR 5,700 to 9,000, per the Instituto Cervantes 2026 price table.
Which DELE level do Reddit users have the most exam dates for?
A2, a frequent topic in Reddit nationality threads, runs five times in 2026. B1, B2 and C1 run three times each; A1 and C2 run twice, per the Instituto Cervantes 2026 calendar.
Sources
https://cervantes.org/es/sobre-nosotros/sala-prensa/notas-prensa/cerca-34000-candidatos-realizan-95-paises-ultimo-examen
https://cervantes.org/es/sobre-nosotros/sala-prensa/notas-prensa/33000-candidatos-realizan-107-paises-ultimo-examen-2024
https://examenes.cervantes.es/es/noticias/ya-disponibles-las-calificaciones-dele-de-noviembre-2025
https://examenes.cervantes.es/es/dele/cuando
