IB Pass Rate: What Percentage of Students Pass the IB?

The IB Diploma pass rate was 82.6% in the May 2026 assessment session, according to the International Baccalaureate's official statistical bulletin.

The May 2026 Diploma results population contained 104,369 Diploma and Retake candidates. Of those, 86,217 were awarded the Diploma and 18,152 were not.

That means a little over four out of every five candidates received the IB Diploma.

The headline figure gives a useful sense of how difficult the IB is to pass, but it does not tell the whole story. Reaching 24 points does not automatically guarantee the Diploma, the pass rate has changed noticeably over the past few years, and the 82.6% figure refers specifically to the Diploma Programme results population rather than every student taking part in the wider IB assessment session.

All statistics in this article come from the International Baccalaureate's May 2026 Provisional Statistical Bulletin.

What is the IB pass rate in 2026?

For the May 2026 assessment session, 82.6% of Diploma and Retake candidates were awarded the IB Diploma.

The other 17.4% did not receive the Diploma. That percentage is calculated from the official pass rate as 100% minus 82.6%.

It is useful to be precise about which students are included here. The same IB bulletin reports much larger totals for the overall May assessment session, but those include other registration categories and the Career-related Programme. The 82.6% Diploma pass rate is based on the 104,369 students in the DP Diploma and Retake results population.

So if you see a figure such as 209,607 students associated with the May 2026 IB session, that is not the denominator used to calculate the Diploma pass rate.

Source: IB May 2026 Provisional Statistical Bulletin.

IB pass rate by year

The May IB Diploma pass rate has changed considerably over the past five assessment sessions.

The largest change in this period came between 2022 and 2023, when the pass rate fell from 86.1% to 80.0%. Since then, the direction has been upward: 80.5% in 2024, 81.9% in 2025 and 82.6% in 2026.

The 2026 pass rate was therefore 0.7 percentage points higher than in 2025 and 2.6 percentage points higher than in 2023. It still remained 3.5 percentage points below the 86.1% recorded in 2022.

The official statistics show us the trend, but not its cause. It would be misleading to conclude from these figures alone that exams became easier, students became stronger or assessment conditions changed in a particular way.

What we can say is that the May IB Diploma pass rate has increased for three consecutive years since 2023.

Our IB Diploma pass rate by year page has the pass rate for every May and November session since November 2021.

More students are also taking the IB

The pass-rate trend is happening alongside growth in the number of Diploma results.

The number of Diploma and Retake candidates increased from 88,766 in 2022 to 104,369 in 2026.

This helps put the 82.6% figure into perspective. It is based on more than 104,000 Diploma and Retake results rather than a small sample of schools or students.

The wider May 2026 IB assessment session was larger still. Across the Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme, the IB reported 209,607 students across 3,442 schools in 152 countries.

Those wider figures show the scale of the IB globally, but they should not be used when calculating the DP Diploma pass rate.

Source: IB May 2026 Provisional Statistical Bulletin.

How difficult is it to pass the IB?

An 82.6% pass rate means the majority of candidates receive the Diploma, but it also means that roughly one in six did not in May 2026.

So the IB is certainly passable, but receiving the Diploma is not automatic simply because you complete the two-year programme.

There is also an important difference between passing the IB and getting the result you personally need.

A student could successfully receive the Diploma with 28 or 30 points but still miss a university offer that requires 36. Another student might comfortably exceed the overall points requirement but need a particular grade in an HL subject for university admission.

For many students, the more useful question is therefore not simply:

“Can I pass the IB?”

but:

“What score and subject grades do I actually need?”

That might mean aiming for the Diploma minimum, or it could mean targeting 35, 38 or 40+ points depending on your plans.

Can you get 24 points and still fail the IB?

Yes. Reaching 24 points does not automatically guarantee that you will receive the IB Diploma.

The May 2026 results show this quite clearly. The IB recorded 3,846 candidates who scored between 24 and 29 points but were not awarded the Diploma.

There were even unsuccessful candidates in higher score bands.

The reason is that 24 points is only one part of the Diploma requirements. Students also need to meet additional conditions involving their HL and SL results, individual subject grades and the Diploma Programme core.

This is why it is slightly misleading to describe 24 as a simple "pass mark".

A better way to think about it is:

24 points is the minimum total-score requirement, but you also need to satisfy the other Diploma conditions.

You can find the current rules on the IB's official Diploma Programme passing criteria page.

What does the average student who passes the IB score?

Students who were awarded the Diploma in May 2026 scored an average of 33.0 points.

Their average individual subject grade was 5.2 out of 7.

Across the broader Diploma results population, including students who were not awarded the Diploma, the average was 30.8 points with a mean subject grade of 4.9.

That gives us two slightly different benchmarks:

• Overall DP Diploma-results average: 30.8 points
• Average among Diploma recipients: 33.0 points

Among students who successfully received the Diploma, the most common score range was 30–34 points, which accounted for 33.6% of Diploma recipients.

If you want to see where scores such as 30, 35 and 40 sit in the overall distribution, we have a separate guide to the average IB score and May 2026 score distribution.

Is the IB pass rate the same for DP and CP?

No.

The 82.6% figure refers specifically to Diploma Programme Diploma results.

The May 2026 bulletin separately reports a 79.0% pass rate for Career-related Programme certificates.

The DP and CP are different programmes with different structures and requirements, so their results should not be combined into a single "IB pass rate".

For most searches asking what percentage of students pass the IB Diploma, 82.6% is the relevant May 2026 figure.

Do different IB subjects have different pass rates?

The IB's May 2026 bulletin does not publish official pass rates for individual subjects.

Instead, the subject tables show:

• Number of candidates
• Mean grade
• Percentage receiving each grade from 1 to 7
• Percentage receiving no grade

This means you can compare how students performed in different subjects, but you should not turn those grade distributions into made-up subject "pass rates".

For example, in Economics:

• Economics HL: 20,472 candidates, mean grade 5.2
• Economics SL: 11,305 candidates, mean grade 5.0

A Grade 7 was awarded to 14.7% of Economics HL candidates and 14.3% of Economics SL candidates.

Using the published distributions, we can also calculate that 44.8% of Economics HL candidates and 39.9% of Economics SL candidates received a 6 or 7.

Those numbers tell us something about high-grade performance, but they are not Economics pass rates. Our page on what percentage of students get a 7 in IB Economics has these figures for every session since November 2021.

If you are studying Economics and want to improve your own result, our guide to getting a 7 in IB Economics looks at the IA, diagrams, evaluation, real-world examples, calculations and exam technique in more detail.

Is the IB pass rate increasing?

Over the most recent May sessions, yes.

The pass rate has moved from 80.0% in 2023 to 82.6% in 2026, with an increase in every year during that period.

That does not mean the rate has returned to its 2022 level. The May 2022 pass rate was still higher at 86.1%.

So the most accurate description is that the IB pass rate has been gradually increasing since 2023, rather than saying that it is at a record high or has fully returned to previous levels.

Is the May 2026 pass rate final?

The source used throughout this article is the May 2026 Provisional Statistical Bulletin.

The IB explains that provisional statistics are compiled shortly before results are released. A confirmed statistical bulletin is published later, although the IB notes that significant changes are not anticipated.

The 82.6% figure should therefore be described as the official provisional May 2026 Diploma pass rate.

You can read the complete May 2026 Provisional Statistical Bulletin here.

IB pass rate FAQ

What percentage of students pass the IB?

The IB Diploma pass rate was 82.6% in the May 2026 assessment session, according to the International Baccalaureate.

What percentage of students do not pass the IB?

Approximately 17.4% of Diploma and Retake candidates were not awarded the Diploma in May 2026. This is calculated from the official 82.6% Diploma award rate.

What was the IB pass rate in 2025?

The May 2025 IB Diploma pass rate was 81.9%, compared with 82.6% in May 2026.

What was the IB pass rate in 2024?

The May 2024 pass rate was 80.5%.

What was the IB pass rate in 2023?

The May 2023 Diploma pass rate was 80.0%, the lowest of the five May sessions from 2022 to 2026.

Is 24 points automatically an IB pass?

No. Students need at least 24 points, but they must also meet the IB's other Diploma requirements.

Can you score more than 24 and still not receive the Diploma?

Yes. In May 2026, 3,846 candidates scoring between 24 and 29 points were not awarded the Diploma.

What is the average score of students who pass the IB?

Students awarded the Diploma in May 2026 averaged 33.0 points.

Does the IB publish pass rates for individual subjects?

Not in the May 2026 statistical bulletin. The IB publishes grade distributions and mean grades by subject rather than official subject pass rates.

What should you take away from the IB pass rate?

The simplest answer is that just over four in five Diploma candidates received the IB Diploma in May 2026.

The 82.6% pass rate is useful for understanding how students perform globally, especially when compared with the 80.0% recorded in 2023 and 86.1% in 2022. It also shows why describing the IB as either "easy to pass" or "almost impossible" misses quite a lot of context.

For an individual student, though, receiving the Diploma may only be part of the goal. Your university requirements, HL grades and overall points target can matter much more than the global pass rate.

And if you are trying to understand where your own total score sits compared with other students, our 2026 average IB score guide breaks down the full score distribution.