JAMB 2026 in Numbers: Candidates by State and More

The 2026 UTME was one of the biggest in JAMB's history. This page collects the numbers that can be traced to a source, with the caveats that matter. We use JAMB's own bulletin figures where press reports quote them, and we say clearly when a number comes only from press coverage.

The headline numbers

On centres, JAMB said it had created 1,000 centres, up from fewer than 800 in 2025.

Top 10 states by UTME registrations

These ten states together account for 1,586,523 registrations, which is about 70.7% of the national total (our arithmetic from the JAMB figures). Lagos, Kaduna and FCT-Abuja alone make up about 41.4%. The lowest state in the bulletin was Zamfara, with 14,841 registrations.

JAMB also reported foreign registrations, led by Cote d'Ivoire with 32, then Equatorial Guinea with 16, Burkina Faso with 14 and the United Kingdom with 12.

What the state spread tells you

Three states with similar totals, around 300,000 each, sit well above the rest. The fourth state, Ogun, has less than half as many. Candidates in these three states face the busiest centres, so booking early and printing your slip promptly matters even more there.

For smaller states, fewer candidates does not mean an easier exam. The test is the same everywhere and is marked on the same scale.

Results: how they were released

JAMB released results in batches rather than all at once. Nairametrics reported 632,752 results released for candidates who sat on 16 April, followed by 1,264,940 more for candidates who sat on 17 and 18 April, for a total of 1,897,692 from the first three days of the exam period. The report does not give the dates on which those batches were released. That is about 84.6% of 2,243,816 registrations, but the two numbers are not directly comparable, because not every registrant sits the exam.

Candidates affected by technical problems, biometric verification issues or withdrawn results were invited to a mop-up exam on Saturday, 13 June 2026. Mop-up results were released on Tuesday, 16 June 2026, after which the ranking of candidates for admission began.

Cut-off marks for 2026/2027

At its admissions policy meeting in Abuja on Monday, 11 May 2026, JAMB set the minimum scores for the 2026/2027 session. Press reports give these figures (JAMB's website lists the same minimums):

Legit.ng reported that the 150 mark for universities was retained after a vote by vice-chancellors, and that the heads of tertiary institutions agreed the nursing figure unanimously. For comparison, Nairametrics reported that the 2025 minimum was 150 for universities, 100 for polytechnics and colleges of education, and 140 for colleges of nursing sciences. These are national floors. Individual courses and schools often ask for more, as our cut-off posts explain, for example the cut-off mark for Medicine and Surgery.

The top score

Legit.ng reported that JAMB displayed the top scorer at the 2026 policy meeting: Owoeye Daniella Jesudunsin, with 372 out of 400.

A note on score distributions

You may see tables claiming to show how many 2026 candidates scored 200 and above. We could not find a single JAMB release in this research that settles the 2026 breakdown. We also found a table labelled as 2026 whose text described the 2025 UTME, and some posts mix figures from different years. Until JAMB publishes a full bulletin we are not printing a 2026 score distribution. If you need one, use JAMB's own release.

What this means for 2027

The proposed window for the 2027 UTME is 15 to 25 March 2027, as set out in our JAMB 2027 UTME date and timetable guide. It is only a proposal, and JAMB has not announced registration. For the longer story of how the board reached this scale, read a short history of JAMB.

If you are one of the 2027 candidates, the practical lesson from 2026 is simple: large cohorts mean busy centres, so register early, fix your NIN details early and practise on a screen well before exam week.

How to read these numbers

• Registered is not the same as sat. The 2,243,816 figure counts completed registrations. Some candidates do not sit, and some results are held back for review, so do not treat any later figure as a share of this total without checking its base.
• State figures reflect where candidates registered, which is not always where they live or went to school.
• Percentages we calculated are marked as ours. If a figure is not labelled as reported, it is our arithmetic from reported numbers, and you can redo it with a calculator.
• Outlets sometimes disagree. Where reports differ, we have used the figures from JAMB's bulletin as reported by Nairametrics.

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