NEET UG 2026 data reveals major shifts: Absentees surge, qualifiers fall and cut-offs rise

Soon after announcing results, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has released the detailed statistical data for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG). 22,79,743 candidates registered for the examination this year, of whom 19,99,895 appeared and 11,21,185 qualified for admission to undergraduate medical, dental, AYUSH and allied courses. NEET UG result LIVE updates.

The number of registrations for NEET UG remained above 22 lakh for the second consecutive year. While registrations increased marginally from 22,76,069 in 2025 to 22,79,743 in 2026, the number of candidates who appeared for the examination declined from 22,09,318 last year to 19,99,895 this year. Consequently, the number of qualified candidates also dropped from 12,36,531 in 2025 to 11,21,185 in 2026.

A total of 2,79,848 registered candidates were absent this year compared with 66,751 in 2025.

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Category-wise registrations

Among all social categories, OBC candidates continued to account for the largest share of registrations in 2026 with 9,52,249 applicants. The General category recorded 6,65,036 registrations, followed by SC candidates at 3,45,519, EWS candidates at 1,65,573 and ST candidates at 1,51,366.

Compared with 2025, registrations increased slightly in the OBC, SC, ST and EWS categories, while the General category witnessed a decline.

English remains most preferred language

The examination was conducted in 13 languages across the country. The language-wise registration data shows that English remained the most preferred medium for the examination. A total of 18,08,535 candidates registered to take NEET UG 2026 in English, followed by 3,45,247 candidates in Hindi.

Gujarati remained the third most preferred language with 49,647 registrations, while Bengali and Tamil recorded 38,577 and 29,845 registrations respectively.

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Women outperform men

Female candidates continued to outnumber male candidates in registrations, appearances and qualifications. Of the 22,79,743 registered candidates, 13,32,914 were women and 9,46,815 were men. Among those who qualified, 6,54,049 were female candidates, while 4,67,134 were male candidates.

Two candidates from the third-gender category also qualified

OBC record highest qualifiers

The category-wise qualification data shows that OBC candidates accounted for the largest number of successful candidates this year. A total of 5,12,014 OBC candidates qualified the examination.

The General category recorded 2,91,133 qualified candidates, followed by SC candidates at 1,59,296, EWS candidates at 95,026 and ST candidates at 63,716. The PwBD category recorded 3,666 qualified candidates.

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Indian candidates dominate participation

The nationality-wise statistics indicate that Indian nationals made up almost the entire candidate pool. Out of 22,79,743 registered candidates, 22,76,743 were Indian nationals. Besides them, 1,066 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), 1,007 Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) and 927 foreign nationals registered for the examination.

Among those who qualified, Indian nationals accounted for 11,19,699 candidates, while 581 OCI candidates, 451 NRIs and 454 foreign nationals also qualified.

The qualifying marks released by NTA show higher cut-off ranges across categories compared with the previous year. For the UR/EWS category, the qualifying marks ranged between 715 and 213 in 2026, compared with 686 and 144 in 2025.

UP records highest qualifiers

Among states and Union Territories, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of qualified candidates at 1,70,770. Rajasthan followed with 1,33,140 qualified candidates, while Maharashtra crossed the one-lakh mark with 1,07,304 successful candidates.

Karnataka registered 65,901 qualified candidates, Bihar 68,968, Tamil Nadu 61,306 and Madhya Pradesh 55,655. The detailed state-wise data released by NTA covers registrations, appearances and qualified candidates for all states and Union Territories.