JAMB Registers Over 22 Million UTME Candidates Since 2015

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) revealed that it recorded over 22 million candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) from 2015 to 2026. The data indicates that the highest number of registrations occurred in 2026, with a total of 2,295,877 candidates, including 2,243,245 UTME candidates.

The registration figures from previous years include 1,644,072 candidates in 2015, 1,764,859 in 2016, 1,882,559 in 2017, and a peak of 2,110,623 in 2020. However, there was a drop in 2021 with 1,428,209 candidates.

The numbers rebounded in 2022 with 1,859,532 candidates, but fell again in 2023 to 1,635,673. JAMB also approved a minimum admission benchmark of 150 for universities for the 2026/2027 academic session during its annual policy meeting held in Abuja.