Are IELTS scores going up?
Quick answer
A little, in IELTS.org's two latest editions. From 2023-2024 to 2024-2025 the Academic overall mean went from 6.23 to 6.25 for women and from 6.18 to 6.19 for men; General Training rose more, from 6.20 to 6.41 and from 6.11 to 6.30. IELTS.org calls the figures broadly in line with previous years, and publishes no candidate counts, so a higher mean can come from a different mix of candidates.
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IELTS.org publishes its test-taker data once a year, and two editions are online: 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. The test statistics page links the newer one; the older spreadsheets are still on IELTS.org’s own servers. Every mean below is IELTS.org’s; the changes between the two, and the shares at Band 7.0 or above, are this site’s arithmetic on its figures. The full 2024-2025 tables are in the IELTS test-taker statistics for 2024 to 2025.
Overall: a small rise, larger in General Training
| 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Academic, women | 6.23 | 6.25 |
| Academic, men | 6.18 | 6.19 |
| General Training, women | 6.20 | 6.41 |
| General Training, men | 6.11 | 6.30 |
| Share of tests that were Academic | 79% | 79% |
| Share of candidates who were women | 54% | 53% |
The Academic means barely moved. General Training rose by about a fifth of a band for both women and men. IELTS.org gives no reason, and it does not publish how many people sat each test, so the table describes the candidates of each year, not a change in the test.
By nationality and first language
Across the 38 Academic nationalities listed in both years, the overall mean rose for 21, fell for 11 and stayed level for 6; the average change was about +0.02 of a band. Across the 35 General Training nationalities listed in both years, it rose for 25, fell for 8 and stayed level for 2, an average of about +0.1. The first-language tables show the same shape.
The groups that moved most:
- Rises, General Training by first language: Bengali 5.41 to 6.26, Nepali 5.57 to 6.24, Gujarati 6.08 to 6.47, Urdu 5.48 to 5.84.
- Rises, Academic by nationality: India 6.34 to 6.58, Bangladesh 5.81 to 6.00, Sri Lanka 6.35 to 6.45.
- Falls: Saudi Arabia in General Training, 5.15 to 4.94; Colombia in General Training, 6.30 to 6.18, and in Academic, 6.60 to 6.53.
A jump of most of a band in one year, as for Bengali and Nepali speakers in General Training, is more likely to reflect a change in who took the test than a change in how well the same kind of candidate did. The data cannot separate the two.
The languages this site is written in (Academic)
| First language | Mean 2023-2024 | Mean 2024-2025 | 7.0 or above, 2023-2024 | 7.0 or above, 2024-2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | 5.94 | 5.95 | 25% | 26% |
| Bengali | 5.84 | 6.03 | 18% | 21% |
| Chinese | 5.98 | 5.95 | 17% | 16% |
| English | 6.92 | 7.06 | 57% | 64% |
| Indonesian | 6.67 | 6.67 | 48% | 48% |
| Japanese | 5.86 | 5.82 | 14% | 14% |
| Kazakh | 6.25 | 6.20 | 30% | 29% |
| Korean | 6.27 | 6.28 | 28% | 29% |
| Portuguese | 6.92 | 6.92 | 61% | 60% |
| Russian | 6.61 | 6.59 | 46% | 45% |
| Spanish | 6.72 | 6.70 | 51% | 50% |
| Thai | 6.12 | 6.21 | 26% | 29% |
| Turkish | 6.48 | 6.44 | 40% | 39% |
| Ukrainian | 6.60 | 6.59 | 45% | 45% |
| Uzbek | 5.96 | 6.04 | 19% | 22% |
| Vietnamese | 6.16 | 6.20 | 27% | 28% |
Azeri appears only in the 2024-2025 edition (mean 6.59, 43% at 7.0 or above); Kyrgyz and Malay are not among the first languages IELTS.org lists. For most of these languages the change is a few hundredths of a band either way, too small a change to read anything into.
By reason for taking the test
The share of candidates at 7.0 or above rose in most groups. Among Academic candidates it went from 37% to 43% for immigration and from 20% to 24% for short higher-education courses, while those registering as doctors stayed the highest group (70% and then 69%). In General Training, the share for employment nearly doubled, from 13% to 24%, and for nurses it went from 24% to 32%; for doctors it fell, from 62% to 57%.
The four skills
Writing stayed the hardest skill. It was the lowest Academic mean for 29 of the 39 nationalities listed in 2023-2024 and for 31 of the 40 in 2024-2025, and its means barely moved: about +0.02 of a band on average across the nationalities in both editions, against about +0.04 for Listening, +0.03 for Reading and +0.01 for Speaking. In General Training all four rose a little more, Reading and Listening by about 0.14 of a band.
One caution on Listening and Reading. In the 2024-2025 spreadsheet, the tables by nationality and by first language appear to have those two columns the wrong way round: IELTS.org’s own statistics page and the gender table in the same file give the opposite order. The figures here use the two columns swapped back, as the 2024 to 2025 statistics page explains. Read without that correction, Listening would seem to have fallen by a quarter of a band and Reading to have risen by a third in a single year, almost everywhere.
What it means for you
A national mean that rose by 0.05 tells you almost nothing about your own result. What the two editions agree on is the shape: Writing is the lowest skill for most groups, and the gap to the other skills did not close. The band score calculator shows how one skill moves the overall band, and the answer on what a good IELTS score is sets these means against what universities and visas ask for.
What this means for your score
You are an Uzbek speaker aiming for 7.0 in Academic. In 2023-2024, 19% of Uzbek-speaking Academic candidates reached 7.0 or above; in 2024-2025, 22%, with the mean moving from 5.96 to 6.04. The trend is real but small. Writing was the lowest mean for Uzbek speakers in both years, and your own lowest skill moves your band more than any trend does.
Frequently asked questions
Is IELTS getting easier?
The data cannot say. IELTS.org publishes the means and the band distributions but no candidate counts, and the nationalities and languages it lists change between editions, so a higher mean can come from who sat the test as much as from how well. IELTS.org describes the 2024-2025 figures as "broadly in line with statistics for previous years". Nothing it publishes says the test changed in difficulty.
Which groups improved the most?
The largest rises were in General Training among South Asian first languages, where Bengali went from 5.41 to 6.26 and Nepali from 5.57 to 6.24, then Gujarati (6.08 to 6.47) and Urdu (5.48 to 5.84). In Academic, India (6.34 to 6.58) and Bangladesh (5.81 to 6.00) rose most among nationalities. The largest fall was Saudi Arabia in General Training, from 5.15 to 4.94.
Did more candidates reach Band 7.0?
In most groups, slightly. Among Academic candidates sitting the test for immigration, the share at 7.0 or above went from 37% to 43%, and in General Training for employment from 13% to 24%. Academic candidates registering as doctors stayed the highest group, at 70% and then 69%. These shares are sums of IELTS.org's published distributions.
Has Writing stopped being the hardest skill?
No. Writing was the lowest Academic mean for 29 of the 39 nationalities IELTS.org listed in 2023-2024 and for 31 of the 40 in 2024-2025. Its means rose by about 0.02 of a band on average across the nationalities listed in both years, less than Listening and Reading.
Sources
- Test statistics — IELTS.org
- Test taker performance data 2024-2025 (XLSX) — IELTS.org
- Test taker performance data 2023-2024 (XLSX) — IELTS.org
- Demographic data 2024-2025 (XLSX) — IELTS.org
- Demographic data 2023-2024 (XLSX) — IELTS.org
Last verified 21 Oct 2026
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