Key statistics in this year’s GCSE results

The overall rate for grades 1/G or above is the lowest in nearly two decades.

Science double award remains the most popular GCSE subject (David Davies/PA) (PA Archive)

Here are the main figures for this year’s GCSE results:

– The proportion of entries receiving the highest grades has fallen from last year but remains higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

A total of 21.8% of entries were awarded grade 7/A or above, down slightly from 22.0% in 2023 but above the 20.8% in 2019.

– Some 67.6% of entries received a grade 4/C or above.

This is down from 68.2% last year but higher than 67.3% in 2019.

– The overall rate for grades 1/G or above is 97.9%, down from 98.0% in 2023 and also below 98.3% in 2019.

This is the lowest 1/G figure for nearly two decades, since 97.8% in 2005.

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

The proportion of total female entries awarded grade 7/A or above was 24.7%, 5.7 percentage points higher than total male entries (19.0%).

This is the narrowest lead enjoyed by girls since 2009, when it was also 5.7 points.

Last year, girls led boys by 5.8 percentage points (24.9% girls, 19.1% boys).

– The gap at grade 4/C is unchanged from last year.

Some 71.0% of total female entries were awarded 4/C or higher, compared with 64.2% for boys, a lead of 6.8 points.

Last year the figures were 71.7% for girls’ entries and 64.9% for boys’ entries, also 6.8 points.

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

– The most popular subject in terms of entries this year was the science double award, with a total of 980,786 entries, up 4.8% on 2023.

– Maths remains the second most popular subject, with 878,165 entries, up 6.9% on 2023.

English language was the third most popular subject, with 845,834 entries, a rise of 7.2%.

– Among subjects with more than 100,000 entries, business studies saw the largest percentage increase in entries this year, up 9.7% from 123,166 in 2023 to 135,090 in 2024.

– Among subject with under 100,000 entries, statistics saw the biggest percentage increase, up 19.9% from 26,559 in 2023 to 31,844.

– Across the regions of England, London saw the highest proportion of entries awarded grades 7/A or above (28.5%, up 0.1 percentage points from 28.4% in 2023), while north-east England had the lowest (17.8%, up 0.2 points from 17.6% in 2023).

– Overall, there were a total of 6,186,879 GCSE entries, up by 4.8% on last year’s figure of 5,905,000.

– Some 1,270 16-year-olds in England taking at least seven GCSEs achieved a grade 9 in all their subjects. This is up from 1,160 in 2023 and from 837 in 2019.