Here are the main numbers and trends in this year’s GCSE results:

– The proportion of entries receiving the top grades has risen for the second year in a row and remains higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

A total of 22.0% of entries were awarded grade 7/A or above, up slightly from 21.9% in 2025 and higher than the 20.8% in 2019.

– Some 67.3% of entries received a grade 4/C or above.

This is down from 67.4% last year and is the same as 2019.

It is the first time the figure for 4/C has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

– The overall rate for grades 1/G or above is 97.9%, unchanged from 2025 and below 98.3% in 2019.

This is the lowest figure for entries receiving at least a grade 1/G for two decades, since 97.8% in 2005.

– The longstanding lead enjoyed by girls over boys for the top grades has narrowed again.

The proportion of total female entries awarded grade 7/A or above was 24.4%, 4.8 percentage points higher than the total for male entries (19.6%).

This is the narrowest lead enjoyed by girls since at least the year 2000, which is the earliest available archive data.

Last year, girls led boys by 5.1 percentage points (24.5% girls, 19.4% boys).

– The gap at grade 4/C has also narrowed.

Some 70.2% of all female entries were awarded 4/C or higher, compared with 64.4% for boys, a lead of 5.8 points.

This is the narrowest lead for girls at 4/C since at least 2000.

Last year the figures were 70.5% for girls and 64.3% for boys, a lead of 6.2 points.

– Across the regions of England, London saw the highest proportion of entries awarded grades of 7 or higher at 28.6%, up from 28.4% in 2025, while north-east England had the lowest at 17.7%, down from 17.8% last year.

The gap between these two regions now stands at 10.9 percentage points, up from 10.6 points in 2025 and the largest since at least 2010.

– Some 31.7% of entries in Northern Ireland received 7/A or higher, above the equivalent figure for England (21.8%) and Wales (19.6%).

For entries awarded 4/C or higher, Northern Ireland again had the highest figure, at 83.6%, above England (67.0%) and Wales (62.3%).

– The subject with the most entries this year was the science double award, as has been the case since its introduction in 2018, with a total of 1,007,628 entries, up 2% on 2025.

Because this is a double award, each entry for the subject is awarded two grades.

– Maths remains the subject with the second largest number of entries, with 912,410 this year, up 2% on last year.

English language ranks third, with 882,030 entries, a rise of 2%.

– Among subjects with more than 100,000 entries, business studies had the largest percentage increase in entries this year, up 8% from 137,924 in 2025 to 148,747 in 2026.

– Among subjects with fewer than 100,000 entries, statistics jumped by 11%, from 34,879 entries in 2025 to 38,770 this year.

– Overall, there were 6,199,256 GCSE entries, up by 0.6% on last year’s figure of 6,160,034.