HSK sittings worldwide reached 564,000 in the first half of 2026, a 36% rise on the same period in 2025, according to Báo Văn Hóa. Vietnam supplied roughly one-fifth of that total on its own. This post sets out HSK candidate volume by region using figures published by the test organiser and Chinese state media, with the measurement and period attached to every number.
HSK Candidate Volume by Region
How Many People Take the HSK Each Year?
The Center for Language Education and Cooperation, which sits under China’s Ministry of Education, counted 719,000 HSK candidates in 2024 against 32,000 in 2004. The centre projected 750,000 for full-year 2025.
That projection followed 414,000 candidates in the first six months of 2025, a 19.6% year-on-year gain. Cumulative test-takers were set to pass 8.5 million during 2025.
| Period | HSK candidates | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 32,000 | Reported annual total |
| 2024 | 719,000 | Reported annual total |
| 2025 | 750,000 | CLEC projection |
Source: Center for Language Education and Cooperation, via China Daily, November 2025
A later figure sits above both. Xinhua reported in May 2026 that the annual number of HSK candidates exceeds 810,000, as carried by Global Times. The report did not state which calendar year that count covers.
Two half-year totals are published on the same January-to-June basis. CLEC recorded 414,000 candidates for the first half of 2025; Báo Văn Hóa recorded 564,000 sittings for the first half of 2026 and put the increase at 36%. Mandarin’s position among the foreign languages people actually study helps explain why exam demand keeps climbing.
HSK Candidate Volume by Region in Southeast Asia
Vietnam is the single largest source of HSK sittings on the published record. Báo Văn Hóa put the country at 110,000 sittings in the first half of 2026, roughly a fifth of the 564,000 global figure.
The test centre at Thai Nguyen University took 39,000 of them, double its count for the same period a year earlier.
| Scope | HSK sittings, Jan-Jun 2026 |
|---|---|
| Global total | 564,000 |
| Vietnam | 110,000 |
| Thai Nguyen University centre | 39,000 |
Source: Báo Văn Hóa, July 2026 (figures cover January to June 2026)
Vietnam runs 16 HSK test centres, concentrated in the north. Only two sit in the south: Ho Chi Minh City University of Education and Dong Thap University. The Confucius Institute at Hanoi University led the world on sitting numbers in the first quarter of 2025.
Demand skews young. Youth.cn reported that people under 35 make up 82% of Chinese-language learners in Southeast Asia who study the language largely for career advancement, a finding carried by Global Times in May 2026. Learners tracking their own progress can measure character counts in Chinese text against the level thresholds.
HSK Candidate Volume by Region in Central Asia
Chinese Testing International, the test organiser, counts more than 16,700 HSK candidates across Central Asia in 2024, three times the 2020 figure. The exam runs in four countries there: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Cumulative candidates in those four countries reached 143,000 by the end of 2024, from a 2007 start. About 50,000 of those sat the exam in the five years to mid-2025.
Which Central Asian Country Records the Most HSK Candidates?
Kyrgyzstan. Roughly 9,400 people took the HSK there in 2024, with more than 30% sitting levels 4 to 6. Deputy manager Liu Xiaolong put Kyrgyzstan’s growth at 40% a year over the preceding five years.
| Scope | Location | 2024 HSK candidates |
|---|---|---|
| Region | Central Asia, four countries | 16,700+ |
| Country | Kyrgyzstan | ~9,400 |
| Test centre | Confucius Institute, Kyrgyz National University | 4,370 |
| Test centre | Confucius Institute, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University | 1,148 |
Source: Chinese Testing International, via China Daily Hong Kong, June 2025 (calendar year 2024)
The Kyrgyz National University centre took more than 1,700 test-takers at the 17 May 2025 sitting, its highest since the institute opened in 2009. In Kazakhstan, the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University institute grew from 266 candidates in 2013 to 1,148 in 2024, which director Deng Hong describes as more than quadrupling.
Deng attributes the rise to China’s standing as a study destination, the Belt and Road Initiative, mutual visa exemption with Kazakhstan, and above-average pay at Chinese firms. Almaty alone holds over 100 Chinese-language training institutions. For English speakers, Mandarin still carries the 2,200-hour FSI training benchmark, the heaviest of any category.
HSK Test Centres and Candidate Volume by Region
Candidate numbers track the physical network. Over 35 years the HSK went from 61 test centres in 34 countries to 1,477 centres in 168 countries, with more than 30,000 test rooms.
| Network measure | Start of the 35-year span | November 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Test centres | 61 | 1,477 |
| Countries with test centres | 34 | 168 |
Source: Center for Language Education and Cooperation, via China Daily, November 2025
Xinhua reported in May 2026 that CLEC also supports 83 Chinese Language Learning and Testing Centres alongside the 1,477 test venues, and has run language-education cooperation with more than 190 countries.
Private supply adds more. Yu Zhixuan of Yangzhou University counts over 20,000 private international Chinese-language institutions worldwide, growing at about 10% a year, per youth.cn. As of September 2025, 86 countries had folded Chinese into their national education systems. Global learners reached 210 million, Xinhua reported in May 2026 — a scale worth setting against Mandarin’s 941 million native speakers and English’s total speaker base.
What Changes for HSK Candidates in December 2026?
HSK 3.0 goes live on 13 December 2026, per Báo Văn Hóa. Version 2.0, running since 2009, stops entirely; the report states there is no transition period and no parallel operation.
A mock sitting runs in September 2026 at selected centres worldwide. The new format moves to three tiers and nine levels, adding levels 7 to 9 while keeping 1 to 6, and assesses listening, reading, writing, speaking and translation.
Written tests start at level 2. Speaking (HSKK) applies at levels 3 to 6 and moves to four bands from three, running 15 to 23 minutes. Vocabulary rises at every level while question counts fall by 10 to 30 and test time drops by 7 to 20 minutes.
CLEC had flagged the direction a year earlier: level 4 dropped to 70 questions from 100, and levels 7 to 9 added translation for seven languages, up from five at the 2022 launch. Study habits are shifting alongside the format, as the language app market data and Duolingo’s own subscriber figures show.
FAQ
How many people took the HSK in the first half of 2026?
564,000 HSK sittings were recorded worldwide between January and June 2026, a 36% increase on the same period in 2025, according to Báo Văn Hóa.
Which country has the highest HSK candidate volume?
Vietnam, on the published half-year data. It recorded 110,000 sittings in the first half of 2026, about one-fifth of the 564,000 global total, per Báo Văn Hóa.
How many HSK test centres are there worldwide?
1,477 test centres across 168 countries, with over 30,000 test rooms, as reported by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation in November 2025. The network began with 61 centres in 34 countries.
Do Reddit threads about the HSK 3.0 switch match the official dates?
Learners debate the timing on Reddit’s r/ChineseLanguage, but registration dates come from test centres. Báo Văn Hóa reports HSK 3.0 starts 13 December 2026, with HSK 2.0 ending outright and no parallel period.
Where does Reddit discussion of HSK candidate volume by region get its numbers?
Reddit posts typically recirculate press reports rather than raw data. The counts here come from Chinese Testing International, the Center for Language Education and Cooperation, and Xinhua, each dated in the tables above.
Sources
https://studychina.chinadaily.com.cn/s/202511/12/WS6913edf8498e23165e06a5cc/hsk-3-0-to-be-launched-as-tests-global-reach-expands.html
https://www.chinadailyhk.com/hk/article/613970
https://baovanhoa.vn/doi-song/ky-thi-nang-luc-tieng-trung-hsk-30-thay-the-ban-cu-tu-thang-12-248864.html
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1361073.shtml
